Rolling in the Deep
by DeanSamWinchester
Summary: Hermione had been betrayed by the people that she had thought were her close friends. So when she saw Nico di Angelo in the Forbidden Forest, she asked him to take her home to New Rome but did she made the right decision? She now had to go on a quest with him and a few other demigods but if that wasn't the troubling part, she had to make a choice between the two worlds.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I do hope that you like this fanfic and please forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Also there will be Ginny and Ron bashing in this fic. There will be slight Harry bashing as well but only in the fist couple of chapters.**

* * *

Hermione couldn't stop running and she didn't want to. For once in her life she was going to break the rule about going into the Forbidden forest and honestly she didn't care, she just wanted to be far away from the castle as she could go. Beside it wasn't like those two bastards cared for her.

She couldn't understand why they would betray her like that, she did have a feeling that they were using her but she didn't want to believe it. Damn it, she was part of New Rome and she shouldn't be showing any weakness.

What would her mother and father say to her if they knew what was happening? They would probably be angry with her for trusting them so easily before being angry with Ron and Harry. She giggled at the thought of her father being angry with them before frowning.

She really didn't like the fact that she had stay here for the next two months with the knowledge that Harry and Ron were using her. But what can she do? She was only a legacy not a child of god so she didn't inherit any powers from her grandparents.

"_Remember sweetheart, we aren't always going to be there for you."_ Those were her mother words when she had decided that she was going to Hogwarts. Oh how she wished that her parents were here or even her aunts and uncles, they always knew how to cheer her up. Even Nico would be nice and that man had always caused trouble for her.

"I am surprised to see the great Hermione Granger crying, I thought that nothing can move you to tears." Hermione looked up to see the source of the voice and was surprised to see that it was Nico leaning against the tree. The tired look on his face made her frown.

"W-what in Pluto are you d-doing here?" Hermione sobbed.

The son of Hades shrugged his shoulders at her and answered sulkily, "I came here by accident. I wanted to go to New Rome to visit Hazel."

The brunette witch laughed at his words causing him to soften his eyes at her. He sat beside her and looked at the night sky along with her. The two of them weren't friends but they weren't exactly enemies either, they were somewhere between.

"Since you ask me why I am here, it is fair that I ask you why you are crying."

The brunette witch rubbed her eyes, trying to dry the tears from her eyes. "Can I please not talk to you about it Di Angelo!" she pleaded. He took one look of her before agreeing to her request.

"So how is everyone?"

Nico raised his eyebrows at her before shaking his head at her. "No, how are you? What I have been doing for the past six months?" he mockingly asked.

The brunette witch simply smiled at him and answered sadly, "I am curious to know how is everyone, I haven't seen them the past three months you know especially with Mom."

"They are fine, your family miss you especially your mother." Nico answered. He looked at the girl for the second time, noticing the redness of her eyes. If he were to admit to himself that had to be the first time that he seen her cry and for some bizarre reason he didn't like it.

"Nico, is it possible that you could send me back to New Rome?" Hermione asked softly.

The son of Hades looked at her carefully and it unnerved her how he seemed to look slightly like her Uncle Urban in that moment. "And why should I do that for you? You have school and I doubt that your mother or Aunt would be happy with me."

"My mother and Aunt Gwen will understand the reason if they knew what had just happen to me." Hermione answered.

"Alright, I will do it…" her eyes lit up at his words and he chuckled. "But only if you tell me what happened to make you want to go back to New Rome."

The brunette witch hesitated before deciding to tell him what happened between her, Ron and Harry. After all, she needed someone to talk to and she was definitely not talking to Ginny or any of the girls in her dorm.

"Just promise me that you will not tell anyone from Dad's side of the family." She begged him. He raised his eyebrows at her and she scowled at him causing him to chuckle before nodding at her request. As she began her tale, she remembered how she felt when she learned what they are about to do.

* * *

_Hermione had return back to the Gryffindor Common room to get her book that she had forgotten to take back with her. But she was barely out of the shadows of the walls when she heard Ron, Harry and Ginny talking about her. She knew that she should go and get her book but she was curious to know what they were talking about._

"_Can you believe that we are friends with that bookworm?" asked Ron. Hermione eyes flinched at the title that he called her. "I can't believe that we are friends with her for the past three years!" Hermione had a feeling on where it was going. "I don't think I can have that filthy bookworm with us. I don't know what she thinks about herself. All these years we have put up with her and her goody-goody image of hers."_

"_Annoying she is," said Ginny agreeing with her brother. Hermione wasn't frazed with what the redhead girl said. She had always known that the redhead had been jealous of her but what sickens her was the fact that she was sitting on Harry's lap. The boy-who-lived was dating Lizzy from Ravenclaw and it made her sick to know that the boy was cheating on her._

"_All she does is boss us around and telling us to study for our exams when it isn't even coming." Ginny continued. Hermione gritted her teeth at the redhead, her grandmother was the Goddess of Wisdom and she acted like any legacy of her._

"_Well of course," said Harry. "She wants to reminds us who have better grades. Someone needs to knock her off of her high horse." Hermione closed her eyes and held back the tears that were threatening to come out._

"_Wouldn't it be fun if you dumped her in front of the entire school? It would be something that she will never forget." Hermione tighten her grip on the wall as she watched Ginny kissed Harry. _

_She went back the stairs and waited till it was past midnight before running out of Gryffindor tower._

* * *

"And these were your friends? How could you have not notice this? I thought all kids from your father side of your family notice every signs?" Nico asked in disbelief. Hermione was not someone he would picture not noticing the signs, she acted too much like Annabeth at times.

"That is one of the many reasons why I had cried Sherlock!" Hermione snapped. "I should have known but the reason why I am crying like this is the fact that Harry would do this to me as well!"

"Oh do tell me why you were surprised that he acted this way?" Nico asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Hermione hesitated before answering firmly, "Because he acts too much like the former Praetor Percy and Jason."

Nico frowned at her answers and gave her a doubtful look. Percy and Jason would have never done this to their friends or cheat on their girlfriends; they were too loyal to do that. He looked at the girl that he had…he didn't know how to describe their relationship.

"Hold my hand, Granger." Nico said, holding his hand out to her.

The brunette witch raised her eyebrows at him and snapped, "I am not going to hold your hand Di Angelo, and I do not need anyone to comfort me."

The son of Hades sighed at the stubborn girl and pointed out dryly, "If you want to go back to New Rome, you will need to hold my hand seeing as shadow travelling works with me going to the shadows and opening a portal and you are not a child nor a legacy of Ha…sorry Pluto."

Hermione grumbled at the fact that Nico was right as she took his offering hand. Without warning, she could feel lightening sparks from where she had held his hand. She jerked her hand away from him and looked at him in shock. He looked at his hand and then to her in shock.

"We will pretend that never happen." Nico said. Hermione nodded in agreement before taking hold of his hand and ignoring the spark between them. If her parents or gods-forbid her siblings knew, she will never hear the end of it from them.

"In the count of three, we are going to run and Granger do not stop running." Nico said.

"Why?"

The son of Hades chuckled and said, "Well, you might not want to be in Japan or China would you?"

"No, I wouldn't." Hermione agreed.

"I thought so."

"One," Hermione said, tightening her grip on Nico's hand.

"Two," Nico said, trying his best to keep his cool.

"Three." They said and they started to run towards the shadows. Hermione immediately closed her eyes at the shadows entrapped them. Shadow travelling, she decided was not fun in fact it felt very painful. If she could describe it then she would describe the feeling of your skin being peeled off and then glued together.

"I-I am never doing that again," Hermione grumbled as she tried her best not to vomit out her dinner. Nico chuckled at her words and she glared at him before thanking him. He looked at her in surprise and she shrugged her shoulders not offering an explanation.

She inhaled the smell of her home and smiled to herself. She looked at the scenery around her and was surprised that they were in the middle of a road.

"Why are we in a middle of road?"

"I can't transport us into the middle of the city, it would cause us to much trouble." Nico explained. "So I transported us as close as we can get without getting into trouble."

"Alright." Hermione said, still amazed at the scenery in front of them.

"You can let go now," Nico said, trying to stifle the laugh that was threatening to come out. Hermione looked down at her hand and was embarrassed to see that she was still holding Nico's hand.

"A-anyways, what do we do now?"

"You are going to your family while I visit Hazel and her boyfriend." Nico reminded her. Hermione nodded and gave the son of Pluto a smile before kissing him in the cheek.

"Thank you for doing that Nico."

"No Di Angelo?" Nico asked in surprised.

Hermione nodded and answered, "Just today, tomorrow I will go back in calling you by your last name and the world is right again." Nico chuckled at her and the two of them started to walk towards New Rome, neither of them knowing the action that they just made.

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**Author Note: Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and had added this to their story alerts and favourite story.**

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but be nervous as she stared at her mother and father curious eyes. It was a good thing that her younger siblings were at school or else they would be laughing at the fact that she was showing fear in front of their parents.

It was easy for them to laugh; they weren't the ones that had huge expectations on their shoulders. Sometimes, she wished that she had been the youngest in the family or at least the middle child. Her siblings at least have less expectation then her.

Speaking about expectations, how would they react if she told them about Ron, Harry and Ginny? Oh gods forbid if they knew that she had begged Nico to send her back home. Well, she can imagine the second one. Her father would have a fit on why she begged a child of Pluto while her mother would simply raised her eyebrows at her.

"Why are you here, Hermione? I thought that school holidays would not be for another two months and also how did you get here? We haven't brought you, your airplane tickets and asked your Aunt Jenna to pick you up." Her mother Aurelia asked. Her father Favian nodded, narrowing his eyes at her that told her that he would know if she lied to them.

"Well," Hermione tried her best not to fidget under her father's gaze. "I might have decided to skip school for a while and I might have bumped into a half-blood that has the ability to go any place in the world at will."

"Who was this demigod? Was he a Greek or a Roman?" Favian asked, speaking for the first time since this discussion started.

The brunette witch looked at her father calmly and answered coolly, "And how does being a Greek or a Roman matter Father? We are still related to each other."

"I heard many things from your cousin, Hermione about the Greek-"

"If you are talking about Octavian, then you should know that boy is prejudice again everything Greek." Hermione said, scowling as she remembered one of her cousin's rants.

"You must admit, Hermione that they had nearly destroyed New Rome." Favian pointed out to his daughter.

"Key word being nearly." Said Hermione tiredly. Her mother nodded in agreement with her causing her father to scowl at the fact that his own wife was taking her side instead of his.

"Anyway Hermione, why are you here so early?" Aurelia asked, changing the subject before her daughter and husband can get into an argument. She couldn't believe how many times those two can get into an argument about this. Frankly, she blamed her silly relative.

"Well, I found out something that had upset me and I guess I really didn't want to face them." Hermione answered.

"What was so bad that you wanted to come back home, Hermione?" Favian asked, looking at his eldest child with concern eyes. The brunette witch looked at her father and then to her mother before looking down at the floor.

"Sweetheart, what happened to make you come back home? We are your family sweetheart and we deserve to know what happened." Her mother pleaded.

"You would think that I am weak," Hermione said softly to her parents. "Because I am a legacy and I shouldn't be showing any weakness, you might even want me to act like Octavian."

"Hermione, you are not weak! And we will promise you that we will not think of you as weak if you tell us what happened." Favian said to his daughter. His grey eyes slightly soften at her as he continued. "And we definitely do not wish for you to act like Octavian."

"I heard Ron, Ginny and Harry backstabbing me." Hermione admitted. She shook in anger and sadness as she continued. "They were saying so many bad things about me Father that I couldn't stand nor handle."

"I see," Aurelia said, tightening her grip on the table and Hermione was almost afraid that her mother might break the table. "Do tell me what they had said to make you feel this way!"

"They talked about how annoying I was and how they would dump me in front of the whole school." Hermione admitted softly. "B-but Mother and Father please do not be cross with me, if I had faced them I fear that I might have injured them or worse kill them."

Favian sighed at his daughter's words. It had been so easy for him to forget that his daughter had not been raised in the Mortal world where betrayal happens almost everywhere. He had not wished that his daughter had learned this so young nor had he wished for her to come back home when it had happened but he was happy for her to be home.

"I am not cross with you," Favian informed his daughter. "But how are we going to explain this to your Headmaster? We don't have an owl that can send a letter to him."

"Einstein, I think we have to first know if Hermione wants to go back to Hogwarts before writing the letter." Aurelia said, looking at her daughter in concern.

"I don't know." The brunette witch admitted. "I mean I want to go back but at the same time I feel like I want to go back living here."

"You do?" Hermione looked down in her feet in guilt when she heard her father's shock voice. She had made it very clear to them that she didn't want to stay here anymore but to be honest even if Harry, Ron and Ginny hadn't backstab her, she would have still wanted to stay here.

"Yes, Dad."

It was the first time in four years that she had seen her father smiled that widely at her and it made her feel even more guilt. How could she had not notice that her decision to study in Hogwarts had affected him so much? Maybe it was a good thing that those bastards said those things.

Her mother must have notice the guilt in her eyes because she had put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before giving her a hug just as she had done when she had came to her mother's room about the nightmares that she had. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to surrender to the familiar feeling.

"Mom, Dad why did you leave the door opened! I thought you told us that-" yelled her younger brother. He stopped talking when he saw that his mother was hugging his sister, who he was pretty sure was still in England or was it Scotland, his geography wasn't as good as his siblings.

Hermione looked up from her mother's chest and smiled at her younger brother Austin, who was only younger, then her by a good eight years, making him seven. Her brother was the youngest in the family but at times he acted like the eldest when she was acting childless.

Through at times it got annoying on how some people can't believe he was her brother but she can't blame them as Austin had inherited the blond hair from their mother's side of the family but his brown eyes were the only thing that can tell that they are siblings other then that he looked just like their father with his calculating eyes and the lack of emotions in his eyes.

He had grown a lot taller from the last time that she saw him, probably now reached to her hips. She stared at her little brother, who simply stared back at her with a poker face. Hermione sighed; it was going to be like this again.

"Mia!" A voice yelled, jumping onto her back.

Hermione turned her face to have a good look on who had jumped onto her back. She smiled when she saw that it was her younger sister Alice, who was only older then Austin by a year. She gently got her sister off her back and then ruffled her sister's hair.

Alice had long curly brown hair that reached to her elbows and big brown eyes that made her seem younger then she really was and her height didn't help her with it. She was her favorite sibling, as she not once thought that the Greek and Romans were to be enemies. Through it was more to do with her personality.

Her sister was unlike Austin hated fighting and rather preferred healing, something most of their relatives thought of as weak. Hermione was grateful that she would not need to worry about Alice joining the legion. Her sister was delicate and gentle and hated fighting. Her parents didn't know where she had inherited this behavior from but as she told her parents, it is better she act like this then act like a rash, ruthless person.

"I miss you Mia!" Alice said, smiling brightly at her sister. "Me and Ella were talking about you and I told her that you were coming back soon but Ella said that you weren't, she said that you had forgotten about us." Babbled her little sister. "You didn't, did you?"

"Of course not, my little chipmunk." The brunette witch said softly. Austin looked at his sister cautiously as if deciding whether or not if he should go hug her. The relationship between them was close but not as close as she had hoped it to be.

"So when are you leaving?" Austin asked.

Hermione raised her eyes at her younger brother and he narrowed his eyes right back at her. They stared at each other until Alice had interrupted them by telling them that they should act like adults not children to the amusement of their parents.

"But I am a child." Austin said, sulkily.

"And I am definitely not an adult." Hermione said in amusement. "And to answer your question about when I am leaving, how about never?"

The two little kids eyes widen at her declaration and before anyone can blink their eyes, they had run and hug her. Hermione eyes widen while her parents simply shook their head at her and mouth to her 'they miss you.'

The brunette witch gave her siblings a small smile before hugging them back and as she hug them, she thought to herself that being back home might not have been a bad idea after all. The small sigh from Alice made her think that home was never Hogwarts but had always been here.

* * *

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Lavender and Parvati had finally realized that they haven't seen Hermione since dinner last night. At first they had thought that she was in the library but they then realized that they hadn't even seen her in their classes.

"Where do you think she is?" Parvati asked, scanning the Great Hall to see any sign of their dorm mate. She frowned when she saw no sign of the bookworm.

"I don't know," Lavender answered. "Do you think that she might have gone to the infirmary? I mean if she isn't in class or the library then she might be sick."

The black haired girl shook her head at her best friend. She may not know Hermione as well as she would liked but she did know that the brunette witch had never gotten a sick day in her life.

"No, Hermione had never gotten sick day since she came to Hogwarts."

"This might be her first." Lavender suggested.

Parvati shook her head at her and pointed out, "She didn't look sick yesterday or had any signs that she was."

"Should we go see Professor McGonagall about this? She does deserve the right to know of our suspicion of her being missing." Lavender asked her best friend. "I wonder who would kidnap Hermione." The blond haired girl continued.

"She wasn't kidnap," Parvati answered.

"How do you know?"

The black-haired girl frowned at her and said, "Well there would be a ransom letter or the very least a note, her bed will be very messy as well but it wasn't. I think that Hermione had left the school but how?"

"What do you mean how? Can't you apparate out of school?" Lavender asked.

Parvati sighed at her friend's question and answered, "You can't apparate out of Hogwarts, there are wards that prevent you from doing that and besides we would have heard her disapparate."

"How do you know all of this?" Lavender asked. "I didn't think you would know all this."

The black-haired girl blushed in embarrassment and admitted, "Hermione told us that in third year and I still remember it. She always did seem to find ways to rebut our theories but she also did find ways to encourage them as well."

"You are now talking like she is dead."

They shuddered at the thought of their dorm mate being dead. Just the mental image of what might be happening to Hermione scared the crap out of them but it also made them wonder why didn't Harry and Ron noticed that she was missing.

Parvati frowned and suddenly realized something that she should have realized long time ago. Ron had always been talking bad about Hermione behind her back along with Ginny but she had thought that they were just joking but now that she think about it some of their comments were hash and completely untrue. Was it possible?

"Parvati, what is wrong?"

"Do you remember last night we heard crying in our dorm?" Parvati asked Lavender. The blond haired girl frowned at her before nodding her head at her. "I think Hermione found out about the comments that Ron and Ginny had been talking about and I think she might have…"

"But Hermione isn't the kind of person to go there."

"Not if she was upset." Parvati whispered angrily. "How could we have been so stupid! We are her dorm-mates and we should have gotten them to stop saying those comments but we chose to ignore it and look at who is the victim."

"But we are not the only one!" Lavender pointed out. "Harry knew but he didn't say anything and he is his friend!"

Parvati nodded and the two of them looked at each other with guilt. Hermione was missing and it was their entire fault, no it was Harry, Ron and Ginny fault for making her missing but especially Ron and Ginny. Now the question was how are they going to get them back? The two of them ponder as they thought of many ways to get revenge before settling on telling everyone except Ginny, Ron and Harry about Hermione's disappearance and her cause.

After all it wasn't like those three cared about her.

* * *

"Austin, why the hell would you want to join them!" Hermione yelled at her younger brother.

They were currently at dinner when her younger brother had decided to tell her and her parents that he had signed up to join the Legion. Her parents had no emotions on their face as he declared this but the same couldn't be said for her or her sister.

"Why not! I am old enough to join and you joined them when you were younger then I was!" Austin pointed out to his sister.

Hermione grimaced at the reminder that she was once part of the legion. She had only been four when she joined them and unlike her cousin had regretted every minute of it. She was thankful that praetors at that time had allowed her to take a vacation every once in a while and when Hogwarts came, everyone knew that it was better that she goes there to control her abilities.

She had only been able to quit last year to her mother and father's joy.

"Austin, do you understand that once you join that you can't live with us! Or that you won't be able to have some of the freedom that you have here!" Hermione said to her brother.

"I will at least have some glory like you, Mom, Dad and cousin Octavian have!" argued Austin.

The brunette witch frowned at his words and coolly said, "Glory isn't everything, Austin! If you join them then you will have to be at your best behavior meaning no comments about people you don't like and other things like that. I won't be there to help you if you get into trouble and gods help me if you have a quest, do you really want that?"

"Yes I do!" Austin firmly said, giving his sister a stubborn look. Hermione gave a pleading look to her parents. They shook their head at her and silently mouth to her that she will have to allow him.

"Okay, I will write you a letter of recommendation but do not write back home saying that it was the biggest mistake of your life." Hermione grumbled at her brother. He grinned at her and looked at their parents who reluctantly nodded their head and told him that they will write one as well.

"Thank you, Mia!" Austin said, smiling at his sister. Hermione nodded back at him and glanced at her parents before telling them that she was going to take a walk to clear her head.

Hermione quietly stepped out of the house and put on her shoes. She gave one last look to her house before walking to the street that would lead her to the center of New Rome. She didn't have a destination in mind but she wanted time to think of her little brother's choice.

The streets of New Rome were as busy as usual, people arguing over bargain prices. Old men and women talking about the good old days and a few naughty kids sneaking out of the house to play some of the famous heroes that the Romans have ever produced.

At times people would recognize who she was and they would gave her a small wave before going to talk to her about how she is enjoying retirement. Sometimes, they would be boys a couple of years older then her who would ask her on a date or a drink but she always turned them down.

Her brother wanted to join the Legion for glory! Why would he want to do that? She had joined because Octavian would tell her stories of the great heroes and how lucky she was to be a part of it and how she should serve this city better. At the time, she had thought that she would join the Legion because of that. She may have been a hero in their eyes but she still has emotional scars from it. Would her brother be all right?

As she thought of her brother's well being, she hadn't noticed that she had bumped into someone or that she had fallen down. She was snapped out of her train of thought when she heard someone asking her if she was alright.

"Yeah, I am fine." Hermione answered, looking up to see the person that had asked her this. She was shocked to see that it was Nico, she had thought that he would be with the legion being the ambassador of Pluto.

"It seems we meet in the strangest of circumstances, Granger." Nico said as he helped her up. Hermione scowled at him and rubbed the dust off her clothes causing him to silently chuckle at her.

"Not like I asked to meet you here, Di Angelo." Hermione pointed out. "First at my school here, second here, I would think that you are stalking me."

He scowled at her causing her to smirk at him. At least their relationship would never change to the horror of her cousin, who had insisted that she treated him with some respect being a child of Pluto. He was a hypocrite in her opinion that sleaze ball tried everyway to be praetor.

"So, why do I have the pleasure of seeing the great Hermione Granger here for? I would think that you would be with your family."

"My brother wants to join the legion." Hermione answered bitterly. "If he were smart as I like to think he was then he won't join."

Nico arched his eyebrows at her and asked, "I thought that you Romans would find it an honor to join the legion? Why do you not wish that for him?"

"Because he is my brother and I do not wished for him to know what it is like there," Hermione answered. "Surely you could understand that? Wouldn't you do anything for Hazel?"

Nico didn't answered but the firm look on his eyes was all she needed to confirm her question. The whispers from the people around them reminded them that they shouldn't be talking together. As much as she wanted to talk to him or at least argue with him, she couldn't not without her parents finding out.

"Di Angelo, I will see you later." She turned to leave but was stopped when he called out to her.

"When will I see you again little spitfire?" Nico asked, giving her a smirk. She frowned at him and was surprised to hear a few giggles from a few elderly couple, who had looked at the two of them in amusement.

"It is for me to know and for you to figure out." Hermione answered, giving him a sly grin. He gaped at her as if he didn't expect her to answer the question but she didn't care. The only thing that she cared about was the fact that she got to surprised him.

She gave him a grin before leaving him at the dust.

* * *

**Author Note: Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and had added this to their story alerts and favourite story.**

* * *

The wonder in her younger brother's face made Hermione smile as it reminded her how she felt when she first came here. She wondered who was in guard duty for today; hopefully it would be someone she knows.

As they approached to the guardhouse, she made one last check on her younger brother. The proud look on his face and the way he clutched the recommendation letters made her smile. Her brother had always been proud for who they had as grandparents.

"Mia, will I fit in there?"

The brunette witch sighed and answered, "I do not know but most likely and besides you will have a lot of happy memories here but at times you would regret entering."

"Like you?" Austin asked, looking at his older sister in wonder.

Hermione nodded and answered softly, "At times I did regret joining the Legion but I do have a lot of happy memories there."

"Like what? You told us about some of your sad memories but yet told us about your happy times."

The brunette witch smiled as she thought of her happy memories. She had her first crush here as well as her first kiss. It had come out of nowhere but to be fair the two of them were kind of drunk, okay very drunk because he certainly wouldn't have kissed her if he were sober. Honestly, why the hell would someone spike the drinks especially when there are kids around?

"I was thirteen when I had my first kiss." Hermione said softly, looking wistfully at the guardhouse. The brunette witch closed her eyes as she remembered her first kiss.

She was drunk but not too drunk that she couldn't remember the next day. She could still remember his musky scent and his dark eyes as he kissed her and it only been two years. She had been so stiff as it had taken her by surprise but it wasn't long before she kissed him back.

He had been gentle at the beginning before becoming more passionate. He wasn't too eager as he had been patient with her and had coxed her to open her mouth. She could go on and on about how he kissed her but she wouldn't. To sum it up, it had been the best kiss that she had so far experienced.

Austin slapped his forehead and quietly groaned. He did not want to hear the story of his sister's first kiss in all honestly, he would rather prefer being ignorant about her first kiss. It was after all private and secondly he was not a girl.

"I heard stories that the first kiss is most time awkward." Hermione mused. The blue-eyed boy started to think that his sister had forgotten that he was standing right in front of her.

"But, my first kiss wasn't awkward nor nerve wrecking." The brunette witch continued, not noticing the sick look on her brother's face. "It was almost perfect despite the circumstances."

_I think Hermione is lucky that she is not talking to dad about this or worse Alice. Dad would definitely demand her who kissed her while Alice will tell Mom and Dad about this._ Thought Austin, looking at his sister in weariness.

"It is a good thing that he doesn't remember it or else I wouldn't be able to face him." Hermione said.

"Really? So who did you kiss?" Austin asked mischievously. He may not want to hear his sister's first kiss but that doesn't mean he didn't want payback on the guy.

Hermione blushed and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment at his question. She didn't get along with him but even she couldn't deny that he was an excellent kisser.

"I am not telling you, Austin." The brunette witch muttered.

He raised his eyebrows at her and Hermione scowled at him. She will not tell him the name of the boy that kissed her for a few reasons and the main one is in fear that he would tell him or Octavian. She was certain that he did not know that he had kissed her or else he would be scowling at her or would tease her relentlessly if he knew that was her first kiss.

They finally stopped walking when they reached the guardhouse that guarded the legion from the citizens of New Rome. She never understood why they have it there seeing as no one would attack them.

She cracked a smile when she saw that it was one of her friends in Cohort 2, Arianna. She frowned at the sight of her and looked at her in confusion, knowing that she retired from being in the Legion.

"Hermione!" Arianna cried. "Why are you here? I thought that you have already retired from being in the legion."

Arianna was a daughter of Mercury and Hermione had known her since they both joined the Legion. The daughter of Mercury had long fiery red hair that was to her friend's horror to curly and it reached to the middle of her back and bright crystal blue eyes that twinkle in friend had at times been told that she resembled an elf with her elf-like ears and willowy body

The brunette witch nodded and answered, "Yes I did but my little brother had wished to join the Legion and I had promised my parents that I shall take him as far as you guys will allow me."

"So this is your little brother Austin!" Arianna said in disbelief. She glanced at him and then to her before pointing out. "He looks nothing like you, looks slightly more like Octavian then you."

"I know but luckily his personality is similar to mine then that to my cousin." Hermione said dryly. Arianna chuckled at her friend's words causing the brunette witch to crack a smile.

"I am right here you know!" Austin piped up. "Don't talk like I am not here, Hermione."

"Sure, little tiger." Hermione said, ruffling her little brother's hair. She glanced at Arianna, who gave her a small sad smile causing the brunette to give her friend an apologetic smile.

It had been so easy for her to forget that her best friend had come here when she had been six after her own family had died in a terrible car accident and had ran away from her terrible relatives. At times, Hermione was reminded of Harry, the two of them had similar past but the way they deal with it was different.

"Sorry, Hermione but this is as far as you are allowed to go." Arianna said, smiling sadly at her friend.

"That is sad and here I was hoping that I would finally get to talk to my best friend about her love life." Hermione said, smiling at her friend.

The redhead grimaced and angrily said, "My love life is non-existent thanks to my no good half-brother!"

"What did he do now?" Hermione asked, knowing how over-protective her friend's brother was of her.

Arianna sighed and said, "You know Anthony right?"

"The son of Mars in cohort five am I right? He is the guy that you have been crushing on for the past year right?"

The redhead nodded and continued, "Yes him. He finally asked me out and you know what Adrian did?" she didn't let Hermione guess what he did. "He had followed us to our date in New Rome and had paid the waiters to interrupted us from being too close and don't let me talk about how he-"

"I am right here!" Austin yelled feeling frustrated that they had forgotten about him.

"Sorry," the two of them apologized, forgetting that the little boy was there. It was in that two boys came. One had shaggy blond hair and green eyes while the other had brown hair and murky brown eyes. Hermione realized that it was time for them to change guard duties.

"Hey Adrianna, it is time to change shift and where is Mike?" The blond haired boy asked. The redhead scowled at them and explained that her partner had food poisoning from the food that he ate.

"And who is this?" The brown haired boy asked, pointing to Hermione and her younger brother.

"I am for your information a veteran, who is here to escort her brother into the Principia." Hermione growled.

"You! A veteran, you don't look like you have fought a day in your life!" scoffed the blond haired boy. Arianna clenched her hands into a fist at the boy's words while Austin clutched the bow and arrow that his sister had given him for his sixth birthday.

Hermione glared at him and reminded herself that hitting the boy would do no good even if it were tempting.

"Besides a little girl like you couldn't hurt a fly." The blond haired boy continued, sneering at her.

The brunette witch unconsciously touched the hairpin that her mother had given her when she had told her that she was going to join the Legion. How dare they say she couldn't hurt a fly! She could kill them in five minutes flat as she had been trained by the best.

"I wouldn't say such things to her," a familiar male voice from behind her spoke. Hermione turned around and was shocked to see the son of Pluto standing right behind her. "She could beat you up in less then a minute, even me if she wanted to." Nico said, looking at the two boys in annoyance.

"But she is a girl!"

"I do believe that you have sisters as well and I believe they will be really pissed off if I tell them that you said that." Nico pointed out. The blond haired boy shuddered at his threat causing Hermione to smile sweetly at him.

"Well, I will be off now." Arianna said to the two boys, glaring at them. She turned to Hermione and Austin and said, "I will take your little brother to the Praetors and I will see you later."

"Thank you and make sure that he doesn't get into trouble."

Austin glared at them and yelled, "I don't get into trouble! And I do not need a baby sitter."

"I need to make sure that you are alright and that means you will have a babysitter for the next year until you get a hang of things." Hermione said. Austin looked at her shock and opened his mouth to protest before sighing. He gave his sister one last hug before following his sister's best friend.

Hermione turned to look at Nico, who to her surprise had a smirk on his face and gave her a small wink, which caused the brunette witch to blush at him. Damn him! She never understood why he always does this with her and not with the other girls.

"I do believe that you owe me a thank you."

"I could have handle it by myself," Hermione said. "And I certainly did not need your help and why the hell are you here! I am starting to think that you are stalking me."

The son of Pluto nodded at her and said, "No you didn't but I don't believe you hitting them would have helped with your brother's situation."

The brown-haired girl frowned at his reminder. She had honestly forgotten about her younger brother's situation if she had beaten them then her recommendation would have been bad.

"Why are you here? I thought you would be in there not standing right beside me." Hermione hissed, gesturing to the guardhouse in front of them.

He shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I did not want to deal with your insane cousin and besides, and it is fun seeing you riled up."

"So you are doing it on purpose."

"Maybe I am doing it on purpose," Nico said, looking at her in amusement. "Or maybe I am worried about you."

She glared at him and said angrily, "Why the hell would you be worried about me! I may have asked for your help but that doesn't make it your business."

The son of Pluto's eyes darkens at her words and the anger in his eyes would have scared anyone except Hermione. The said brunette haired girl gave her own glare back at him.

"It became my business when I saw you cry," he hissed. "It became my business when I heard you beg! And you know why it became my business?" he didn't pause for her to answer. "Because you never cry in front of people especially in front of me! Not even when the boys in your cohort didn't believe you! For you to cry tells me many things about your well being. It sickens me that a strong girl like you had cried because of them and I want to know why!"

"N-Nico…" she didn't know what to say to him.

He shook his head at her and said, "I am telling you what I think and why I honestly care because even through we at times don't get along." He took a deep breath and continued, "You are still someone I care about."

Hermione looked at him in shock and surprised. Nico would be smirking at the fact that her manage to surprise her again but not this time. He was mostly worried and angry, worried about how she was coping and angry at how her best friends in Hogwarts treated her.

Through she doesn't need to know that because he would never hear the end of it from her.

* * *

"Thank you." Hermione said as he led her back towards New Rome. The two of them had been walking in silence and only now she had gotten her courage to say thank you to him. Her pride would kill her one-day that was for certain.

"Thank you for what?" Nico asked, glancing at her.

The brunette witch sighed at him and answered shakily, "For saying all those kind things to the boys and for saying that I am a strong girl."

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders and said in amusement, "You are strong, not many people would go to a new country without their parents or face monsters without shaking in fear."

"I was scared you know." Hermione admitted softly. "I thought to myself was it really worth leaving my family and friends to go and study magic in Hogwarts? I nearly didn't go."

"Why did you?"

The brunette witch smiled and admitted, "I wanted to know who I was, not the person my family and friends wanted me to be. Am I Hermione Granger the girl that can use magic? Or am I Hermione Granger the girl that believed right from the beginning that Greek or Roman we are still human? Who am I? I wanted to find myself without my parents constant badgering!"

"Did you find yourself? You have four years you know." Nico asked.

Hermione nodded and quietly said, "I did and I am glad that I did find myself." she smiled at him before continuing, "Have you ever felt that way Di Angelo?"

"You know I believe a better thanks would be you eating lunch with me." Nico said nonchalantly. Hermione arched her eyebrows at the change of subject but didn't question him.

"Lunch?" Hermione asked, arching her eyebrows at him. He nodded and the glint in his black eyes for some reason reminded her of what happened two years ago between them.

"Yes, lunch." Nico said. "I mean I know you as Hermione Granger, the legacy of Apollo and At…sorry Minerva but not as you."

"So you want to know the real me." The brunette witch said, looking at him in disbelief. He nodded at her and for the first time since she saw him, Hermione noticed the loneliness and sadness in his eyes. She had seen him look at her in frustration, anger and only two years ago with lust.

"Yes."

"Why? Why now?" Hermione asked.

He pursed his lips and admitted, "I had been always curious to know more about you and of course I would like to know more about that school of yours."

"I see."

Nico furrowed his eyebrows at the disappointment in Hermione's tone. He glanced at her and suddenly realized that she had grown from the ten year old girl that had led him and Hazel to meet Reyna to a fifteen year old girl, who was too beautiful for her own good.

Her brown hair wasn't bushy anymore and instead had become wavy but he had never mind her hair in anyway. Hermione's eyes had always been beautiful in his opinion, reminding him of a caramel but what finally made him realized was that she had grown were her curves and her soft lips.

"So, did you have a crush on Harry or Ron?" Nico asked, trying to get rid of the awkward silence between them.

"No," Hermione answered.

He arched his eyebrows at her in disbelief and the brown haired girl sighed and admitted, "I had a little crush on Ron but I got over it real quick."

"Really? What made you realize that he is not your type?"

Hermione looked at him funny and he was reminded that the boy had said terrible things towards her. It had been so easy for him to forget that they had hurt her. Not once had he seen her cry about it since she had returned here.

"Sorry, I guess him saying those type of things must have opened your eyes." Nico said.

The brunette witch shook her head and said, "No, I realized that he wasn't my type a few years ago. Someone once told me that I was as beautiful as any rose that he had seen and as brave as a lion." she chuckled and continued. "That had been the first time someone gave me such a complement."

Nico nodded and looked at the brunette girl thoughtfully. Whoever said that was right, Hermione was as brave as lion and was as beautiful as any rose that he had seen. The way that she spoke about the guy made him feel uneasy but he put it off at the thought of her liking a guy that might be some jerk.

"So who was the guy?"

The brunette witch smirked and smugly said, "I am definitely not telling you who it is!" _Because frankly you were very drunk when you said that and I definitely do not want you to hold that over my head,_ thought Hermione.

"Why not? I am not going to tell anyone." Said Nico. "I will even swear in the river Styx."

Hermione looked at him thoughtfully and then happily said, "Still not telling you, Di Angelo!"

They finally stopped walking when they reached the Pomerian Line. Hermione sighed and looked at Nico, who raised his eyebrows at her. She shook her head and asked, "Do you have any weapons with you? I don't want to hear Terminus' whining."

"Don't have any." He answered. She raised her eyebrows at him and he gave her an innocent look. "You could always check my body to be sure! It wouldn't be the first time a girl done it!" Hermione's face turned red from what he was implying.

"You are crude."

"But you like it." Nico said, grinning at her.

Hermione shook her head at him and quietly thought to herself that she didn't know why she put up with him. She had known him for five years and the one thing that she was certain was the fact that some aspects of his behavior would never change.

* * *

**In Hogwarts**

Lavender and Parvati hid in the shadows and watched silently as Harry, Ron and Ginny started to talk. They knew that they were supposed to be asleep but they needed to find something to blame the three of them against or blackmail. Through so far, they have seen or heard nothing from them.

"It is getting boring! Why can't we go back to sleep!" whined Lavender.

The black-haired girl shushed her friend and quietly told her that they needed to hear them. Any information about them will be helpful especially anything about Hermione. It had only been a day and the teachers were slowly starting to realize that the brunette witch was gone.

Their eyes widen when they saw Harry and Ginny kissing, surprise at the sight in front of them.

"Isn't he dating Lizzy in Ravenclaw?" Lavender asked.

Parvati nodded and answered, "Yes Padma told me that they had been dating and that Lizzy honestly likes him…gosh it will break her heart when she hears about this."

"Yeah." Lavender couldn't help but feel pity for the Ravenclaw girl.

"Merlin, I need a girl. Maybe Lavender will be easy to date." Lavender clenched her hand into a fist at his words while Parvati gave her friend a pitying look.

"I am certainly not easy!" cried Lavender.

Parvati looked at the three Gryffindor in worry and sighed in relief when she saw that they didn't hear her. "Be quiet!" she hissed at her friend. "You can slap him tomorrow or better yet use the hex that Hermione taught you."

"Lavender?" asked Harry. "Ron, you can't serious thinking like that." Lavender nodded in agreement with him. Even through the boy-who-lived had been an ass to Hermione at least he agreed with her.

The redhead glared at him and answered, "Why not? I heard that she is easy from Seamus! I give myself a week top before moving onto Parvati!"

"Yes, I heard many rumors about that and they are s**ts." Ginny said, agreeing with her brother.

Now it was both Parvati and Lavender, who were angry with the redhead. They certainly weren't easy and they will definitely not give him the time of day because of what he had just said and definitely for what they had done to Hermione.

"I am definitely want to make their life like hell." Hissed Lavender. Nobody and she certainly mean nobody have the right to say such things about her. Parvati smiled at her friend's enthusiasm and made a mental note to tell Lizzy about her boyfriend's cheating ways.

* * *

"You are kidding me! You did not say that to him!" Hermione said, looking at Nico in disbelief. The two of them were currently at a café and were talking about each other's past.

"I did and Percy looked ready to strangle me for asking such questions." Nico said, laughing as he remembered the son of Poseidon's reaction to his questions.

Hermione calmed herself down before taking a big bite from her fries. She knew if her parents seeing her talk to Nico, they would start to accuse her of things that weren't real but she didn't care because she honestly was intrigue to know more about him.

"Alright, I told you one funny story, you tell me one."

The brunette witch tapped her forehead as she thought of a funny story to tell him. "Well, me and Arianna were once in charge of taking care of Hannibal and one day we wonder what would happen if we fed him peanuts and well long story cut short, he had done diarrhea on Octavian."

Nico laughed at this and said, "I bet you that Octavian had hissy fit when he learned that you guys did it."

"He did and he even complained to my parents, who honestly thought that he had gone mad because frankly I will never done such a thing."

"Really now?" Nico looked at her in curiosity. "So was that the first time that you done such a thing?"

"Yes and I have to say that was the best thing that ever happened to me!" Hermione admitted, taking a bite of her steak.

He smiled at her in amusement and took a bite of the pasta that he was eating. In the corner of his eye, he noticed that the owners were looking at them in amusement and with a knowing look.

"Okay another question! What was the most terrifying thing that you have ever done in your life?" Nico asked.

The brown-haired girl pondered at his question and answered truthfully, "I have done many dangerous things but lying to my teacher had to be number one."

"Come on, none of the monsters were scary for you? I mean how can a teacher scare the crap out of you? Unless their monsters."

"If they knew I was lying, I would have gotten expelled!" Hermione protested. "Frankly with monsters I know that there is two outcomes, either I die or their dead but with a teacher you never know."

"Touché."

"You?"

"Hmm, I guess seeing a love one in the underworld." Nico answered truthfully. "I am used to it but it never does get easier."

"Sorry."

Nico shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand dismissively at her apology. He gave a wicked smile and she arched her eyebrows at him, knowing that he would suggest something inappropriate or something silly and she hoped for her sake that it was silly.

"You know I believe that it is the first time we have a civil conversation." He said, grinning at her.

"No it isn't." Hermione answered automatically, remembering the event that happened two years ago.

He looked at her in surprise and Hermione blushed. She had forgotten that the raven-haired teen had not remembered the kiss that they had a few years ago and she didn't want to tell him.

"I mean the conversation that we had in the forest would be considered civil." Hermione lied. He didn't look like he believed her but he accepted her words none less.

She sighed and silently wondered if things between them were changing. Their relationship had always been complex in fact Arianna had always teased that she thought that she does it on purpose to tease him. Through Hermione wonders what she had meant by that.

Well, she didn't care because she was having more fun with Nico then she had with Harry and Ron.

* * *

**Author Note: Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I will like to answer Save the Nargles' question about Crookshanks, you will find out where he is in the next chapter and as for Nico not being in the Legion well he does have a part in the Legion which would be known at this chapter and a spoiler to anyone who had not read the Son of Neptune and for the teachers and the year in Hogwarts, the answer would be in this chapter as well as Nico's age. Now to answer the question about Nico remembering the drunk night well he would remember but not anytime soon.**

**Now I would also want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and had added this to their story alerts and favorite story. Now on to the story.**

* * *

"And where have you been all day yesterday young lady? Your father and me have not seen you since you left to send your brother to the Legion and you came back very late last night." Aurelia asked her daughter.

The guilty look on her daughter's face made her confuse. Not once had she seen her daughter gave her those looks and her daughter had given her many looks, most common one being annoyance. It is a good thing that Favian was not here or her daughter would get a grilling from him the moment he comes back from work.

"I met a guy while I was sending Austin to the guardhouse and he asked me if I would like to have lunch with him and I said yes but instead of only having lunch, I spend the rest of the day with him."

Aurelia arched her eyebrows at her daughter and said in amusement, "Really then, who was the guy?"

Hermione looked down at her feet and asked, "Can I please not tell you?"

Her mother frowned at her and asked, "Now, why won't you tell your own mother? I promise that I won't tell your father if you tell me who you had been hanging with."

The brown haired girl looked at her mother and then to the window. The chirping of the birds and the soothing wind made their neighborhood seem really peaceful and beautiful, which it really was. But, no matter how beautiful and peaceful it is, she worries that her parents would be angry or annoyed with whom she had spend the day with.

"Was he a Greek or a Roman?" Aurelia asked as she decided to take a seat in the couch.

Hermione didn't answer the question but the silence and the guilt in her eyes told her everything. Aurelia sighed, knowing that there is only one Greek person that visited the camp a lot. In all honestly, she wasn't surprised as her darling nephew would always told her that the boy had been arguing and teasing the girl a lot.

"You had been spending time with the son of Pluto."

The brunette witch opened her mouth to protest but closed when she saw the knowing look on her mother's face. She hesitantly nodded at her mother's accusation and was surprised to see the amusement in her eyes. Anger and annoyance was the reaction that she had been expecting, not amusement even her telling her that she shouldn't see the boy is something she had been expecting.

"So how was the date?" her mother asked.

"D-Date!" Hermione spluttered. Why would her mother think she would date that annoying, self-centered, handsome…she shook her head at the last thought, how could she think such things!

"Yes, you have liked that boy for Jupiter's knows how many years." Aurelia said, looking at her daughter in confusion.

"First off, I do not like that arrogant, self-centered, crude man!" ranted Hermione. Aurelia bit her lips to make sure that she did not chuckle at her daughter's words. "Second of all, I will never date the man unless he and I were the last two people on earth!"

"Sweetheart, is that truly how you feel towards him? Or is there something else I need to know about why you say such things about him?"

Hermione opened her mouth to tell her mother why she thought such things about the son of Pluto. That bastard had stolen her first kiss and forgot it or how he always had to say the right thing that makes it hard for her to truly hate him or the fact that he had lied to her in the beginning about the fact that he was a Greek. In second thoughts, she shouldn't tell her the first two, might give her mother the wrong impression.

"He lied to me about the fact that he was a Greek!" Hermione spat. "He shouldn't have done that especially after I told him that I didn't really believed that the Greeks were truly gone."

"So you have been feeling slightly resentful on the fact that he lied to you about that." Aurelia said. She knew that the reason was more then that, her little girl is not only angry with him.

"Yes, he also stole my first kiss and forgot about it and he makes it so hard for me to hate him! I mean what type of a guy does that!" Hermione ranted, not realizing that she was saying things that she knew that she shouldn't be telling her mother.

"And how did he forget your first kiss?"

The brunette witch eyes widen and she suddenly realized that she said that out loud. She laughed nervously as she thought about the best way she told her mother about the alcohol that she consumed around nearly two years ago.

"Hermione what happened that caused him to forget the kiss?"

"We, uh, might have been a little bit drunk when it happened." Her mother raised her eyebrows at her. "Fine very drunk."

Aurelia slapped her forehead and muttered, "Why oh why, I am only learning this now?" she turned her attention to her daughter and begged, "Tell me that you haven't slept with him!"

Hermione frowned at her mother and wondered what her mother meant, thinking innocently that she meant sleeping beside him before realizing what she truly meant. The brunette witch blushed deeply at her mother's words, thinking to herself that her mother truly had a dirty mind.

"I did not sleep with him!" Hermione yelled. "For your information, the only first he took from me beside my first kiss was the first time I make out."

Her mother raised her eyebrows at her in disbelief causing the brunette girl to look at her mother in shock. Why the hell would her mother think such things about her? She wasn't like her cousin who slept with every guy that she could get.

"You truly didn't…"

"Of course not!" Hermione yelled, blushing deeply at her mother. "He may have been too drunk to remember but he wasn't drunk enough to do such things with me…" her mother looked at her in disbelief and she realized what her mother was thinking. "Not that I would have done such things!" she added quickly.

"I see." Her mother hesitated before asking, "and how was the kiss?"

"Mother!"

"What I am curious to know more about your first kiss as well as the boy you seemed so taken with."

"First off, I am not taken with him! He doesn't like me in that way and neither do I." Hermione said as she looked down in her feet, hoping that her mother will believe her but her hopes were dashed.

"I see but Hermione do know that neither your father or I will judge you badly for dating a Greek." Aurelia said, giving her daughter a knowing look.

The brunette girl raised her eyebrows at her mother in surprise and confusion at her mother change of heart. Hermione had always known that her mother neither hated the Greek nor liked them but her mother had always told her that she needed to find a good Roman boy to date.

"Why the change of heart?"

Aurelia shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I want the best for you and if a Greek boy will make you happy then who am I to judge? And besides, I know that no Roman boy will make you happy."

"And what makes you say that?" Hermione asked.

The blond haired woman opened her mouth to ask but was interrupted by the sound of their home's doorbell. Aurelia raised her eyebrows in amusement at her fifteen-year-old daughter but Hermione looked at her in confusion. Her mother chuckled at her and went to the door.

It was only two minutes later that her mother came back, looking pale and worried. Hermione looked at her mother in concern and the first thought that came to her is the chance that her little brother might be dead! Which was silly but it was the only explanation that she could think of that made sense.

"Mom, what is wrong? Has something happened to Austin?"

Her mother shook her head at her and said in fear and worry, "Hermione, you have been summoned to see the senators."

"W-What! But why have I been summoned? I am no longer part of the Legion nor am I an advisor for the praetors so why?"

Aurelia looked at her daughter with sadness and regret, already having a feeling on what it might be about. She thought to herself that if it was truly worth living here. They had been promised so many things by living here yet at times she thinks that it would have been better to live in the mortal world. At least she would never have to worry about any of her children getting hurt.

"I do not know, Hermione." Aurelia answered truthfully. "But I do believe that they won't summon you unless there is a job for you to do."

The brunette witch closed her eyes and whispered softly, "I had thought that I have done enough for them. I had killed monsters for them and I had protected these people but yet they do not respect my wishes."

"Hermione, I am sure that everything will be fine." Hermione knew from the hesitance in her mother's eye that she did not believed her own words.

"Maybe." Hermione answered, giving her mother a fake smile. "For all I know they might want to talk to me about Austin."

"Yes or about any news from our friends in England." Aurelia agreed, watching her daughter to go to her room to change into her clothing that is expected of her to wear.

The blond haired woman looked at the family photo beside her. She smiled sadly at the sight of a smiling Hermione hugging Alice and a scowling Austin while she and Favian laughed at the sight. She wanted her whole family to be back but more then anything she wanted her daughter to truly smile again and bring back a boy home.

Her darling daughter was so brave and strong just like her father but so utterly naïve when it came to her own feelings just like she had been. Hermione denies her feelings towards the boy and why wouldn't she? Falling in love is scary especially for a girl like Hermione, who had never really been in love.

The sad thing was the fact that her daughter was not noticing it. She rants about how she hates him but admits that she hates the fact that he could never make her truly hate him. Of course there were more from when she had been home and the rants were truly funny.

"Mom, I am off now!" Hermione yelled, snapping her from her train of thoughts.

Aurelia hesitated at her daughter before saying firmly to her, "Sweetheart, remember you don't have to do as they say!"

"I know but mom, I have a feeling that whatever they are calling me for is something that may have to do with England." Hermione said, looking out at the window with grimness. She didn't have a feeling, she knew!

"I hope you are wrong sweetheart because I don't like the idea of loosing you again." Aurelia said softly, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out. She had only got her daughter back for the whole year and now they took her away from them.

"You will never loose me, Mom!" Hermione said firmly. "I have fought through one war and survive! I can handle whatever they throw on me!" she gave her a grin. "I am my father's daughter after all."

_That is what I am afraid of,_ Aurelia thought as she watched her daughter close the door. Her daughter was brave and intelligent but had too much loyalty and pride in her that always worries her. She silently pay to her patron that her daughter would make it out alive.

* * *

Nico had always found it stressing when all the senators must meet and unfortunately for him since he is the ambassador of Pluto, he had go in there as well. That was why he was currently trying to relax the headache that is happening over Hermione and it also didn't help that they were discussing about the new quest that Octavian had foresaw would happen.

"And you are sure that Hermione will come?" The new Praetor John asked Octavian.

The Augur raised his eyebrows at the Praetor and answered stiffly, "I know my cousin well enough that she will not disobeyed a call from the senators."

"Yes but the two of you do not get along well if the arguments between you two indicate!" John pointed out. His fellow Praetor Sophie nodded in agreement with him and Nico instantly slapped his forehead at them, causing them to look at him in surprise.

"And do you have something to say, Greek!" Octavian said, sneering at him.

The son of Hades raised his eyebrows at him and said, "First off, I got a name Octavian and I believe that you should use it! Secondly I agree with you about Granger, she will not decline to come here."

"For all we know she changed her mind!" argued the centurion from the First Cohort. "Those English people might have changed her mind! It is miracle that we have her here back in the first place!"

"Granger will come here!" Nico said, narrowing his eyes at them. "The girl may be stubborn and has a temper but she is not foolish as to refuse the meeting! Or have you forgotten how many times she had fought along side you!"

"We haven't!" protested a centurion from the second cohort. Beside him was Arianna, who had snorted at them in disbelief. Her crystal blue eyes shot her comrade a warning look.

"I will reassure you, Ambassador that we haven't forgotten how Hermione fought for us." Arianna said silkily, glaring at her fellow centurion. "But my colleagues seemed to forget that Hermione is a loyal girl who had not only fought for us but was a centurion as well."

Nico nodded at her and sat back down in his chair. He closed his eyes as he thought about the brunette haired girl that always found someway to be in his mind and only last night dream. He was sixteen years old physically but mentally and chronically he was older then her by a good seventy to eighty years.

Was it wrong to feel such attraction to her? He had never really thought about his feelings towards her till he had spent almost the entire day with her. She had a musical laugh and a beautiful smile but what always draws him to her was how she always fought with him.

Not once had he thought that he liked her in that way until yesterday when they walked back to the city. He had always found her amusing and very easy to tease but last night he had dreamt that he had kissed her and other such things. It was only yesterday that he learned that he liked her blushes and how angry she would be with him.

He wonders what it would be like to kiss her.

"Ambassador! Are you listening?" Arianna yelled, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Sorry, I haven't." Nico said, giving the senators a sheepish look. It was in that moment that he noticed that Hermione was standing right in front of them.

Nico had seen Hermione wore togas before but he had never really noticed how well it suited her. It took all his will power not to gawk at her seeing that her pale golden toga suited her ivory skin.

She looked calm and collected but he could see the hint of worry in her eyes.

"Well, if you have been listening to us then you would have known that veteran Granger had finally arrived." Arianna said, giving a pointed look at Hermione, who had the decency to blush for being late.

"I couldn't really go in my pajamas could I, Centurion Arianna?" Hermione asked before greeting each one of the senators, hesitating as she greeted her cousin and Nico.

"Do you know why you have been called, Granger?" John asked.

Nico blinked his eyes at how fast John got to the point before looking back at Hermione. He could see the tension and curiosity that she was feeling even through her expression was completely blank. It was strange to see that type of expression in her face as he was so used to seeing her angry or the very least with happiness.

"I do not know why but I have a feeling that you have a request to ask of me." Hermione answered, glancing at her best friend Arianna. He frowned when she saw that the brunette witch hunched her back after the redhead gave her a slight nod in the head.

"Yes, we would like you to go on a quest with the Ambassador of Pluto and our fellow centurion Arianna." John admitted, gesturing to the laid back son of Pluto and to her best friend.

"I see," Hermione said, trying her best not to show them how angry she is with them. "I would like to know why you would want me to go on a quest? I am after all retired and I am enjoying my retired life until now."

"Octavian if you kindly tell your cousin about the prophecy please!" Sophie said, looking at the legacy of Apollo with politeness. Nico could never understand how people could not want to strangle the boy, well with Hermione he can understand. The boy was her cousin from her mother's side and had helped her when she was younger.

"Hermione, you have been chosen because one line prophecy says that _the legacy of the Owl and Lyre shall learn the truth._" Octavian explained, giving his cousin a pointed look.

The brunette witch smiled at her cousin and sweetly said, "And what makes you think it is me? For all you know it could be another legacy!"

"Yes that is what I said!" yelled Frank. "I am doubtful that you are the one Hermione…" he gave her apologetic look and Hermione nodded. "But what gifts do you have?"

The brunette witch frowned and looked at her cousin to hear his explanation. The two of them may not get along but he had been there for her and had never truly acted evil or a sleaze ball towards her and had always protected her.

"Hermione would you like to tell the senators or should I?" Octavian asked to everyone's surprise. Hermione hesitated before looking at Arianna, who gave her an encouraging nod and then to Nico, who simply shrugged his shoulders at her and nodded at her.

"I have magic," Hermione informed the senators. "I have been told by Lady Minerva that Lady Trivia gave me such gifts because she wished of me to helped her own legacy and for a new line to appear…" Hermione clenched her hand and continued. "My magic it seems may be a gift."

"I see." John said, looking troubled at this revelation. "The prophecy spoke for itself but what transport should we give you? I doubt that Lord Jupiter would allow our ambassador to travel on air nor Lord Neptune with the sea."

"And thank goodness for that!" Arianna said, grinning at them. "I can't stand the idea of travelling by sea! No offense Lord Neptune but I find that the sea can truly be uh dangerous."

"Arianna, I do believe that the sky is even more frightening!" Hermione said to her best friend.

"Can we get back to the topic at hand!" yelled Sophie, glaring at the two friends.

"Sorry!" The two of them said in unison.

The praetor sighed at the two of them and gave the son of Pluto a look of pity. He would have to deal with the legacy of both Minerva and Apollo as well as a child of Mercury. She didn't know whether to be amused for him or not.

"Now as John was saying, what are we going to do about transport?" Sophie asked the other senators. "The three of them will be going to England for the next year or so, which means they will need a way to get there soon or else we will never to be able to see the Gryffindor's heirloom!"

Each one of them frowned but none more so then Arianna, who was frowning and scowling at the reminder. She was a witch like her friend but unlike her friend, she had been born as a half-blood and to her pureblood mother and her pureblood husband. Her pureblood mother used to rant about that heirloom to her when she was four, telling her how it belonged to them not to the school. She never understood her mother's reasoning and if what the prophecy says is true then she will learn the answer soon enough.

"And why do we need to get the Gryffindor's heirloom?" Hermione asked sharply.

Octavian opened his mouth to answer her question but it was Nico who beat him to the punch.

"The Gryffindor's sword it seems may be able to solve my father's problem with one of his legacies but before we can get rid of him, first we need to enhance it." He answered, giving them a grim look. "My father's legacy it seems had been evading death and is still alive but barely, Ha…sorry Pluto knows it won't be long before he gets his body back and when he does, I am going to say that not only wizards are going to be involved but half-bloods as well."

"And who is your father's legacy?"

Nico looked at her in guilt and sadness before answering, "He was once known as Tom Riddle but now goes by the name Lord Voldemort, a fitting name."

"You mean to tell me Nico that you are related to that monster!" Hermione yelled to everyone's surprise. "How can a legacy of Pluto be afraid of death? I thought that all of you were accepting of death!"

"He is different!" said Nico angrily, clenching his hands in anger. "He kills people and had inherited that insane gene that most children/ legacy of Pluto has but I speak for myself and my father when I say that escaping death is not something we can forgive related or not!"

"Then why haven't you done anything to stop him!" Hermione yelled, looking at him in anger. Arianna and the other started to feel awkward, feeling as if this was more then the fact that he was related to this guy.

"My father couldn't intervene with mortal's affairs and as for me I do not believe that me alone could kill that monsters and besides…" he hesitated before continuing. "Killing him is the job of that Potter boy, all we are going to do is get the Gryffindor sword and enhance it power which can take a year or two."

"Why not go and ask the Headmaster if we could burrow it?" Hermione asked, knowing that Professor Dumbledore will allow them to burrow it.

"Yes but we need to do research and test it." Nico explained. "So even if we burrow it, we will have to do research on it and as well as test it on a object."

"Alright but why us? I understand you but why me and Arianna?" Hermione asked, glancing at her redhead friend.

The redhead looked at her brunette friend and answered softly, "We have been chosen. For you of your magic and for me by my link to the sword."

Hermione looked at her friend in shock before giving her a concern look. The brunette witch knew how her friend thought of purebloods and half-bloods in Europe and for her friend to go back there told her that it was really bad because Arianna swore never to go back there.

"Now, Transport does anyone have any idea what we are to do about it?" John asked, drawing their attention back to the problem at hand.

"Do we not have any legacies or demigods in the America's ministry of Magic that could simply fixed a Floo there?" Hermione asked, looking at each of the senators in surprise.

They frowned at her and looked at each other before telling them that they will contact with one of the legacies to see if they can do it for them but Hermione wasn't paying attention to them. No her attention was fixed on Nico, who was looking at her with respect and another familiar emotion that she can't fix.

* * *

It was another three hours before Hermione and Nico were allowed to go out of the senate house as the other senators would be discussing things that Hermione did not need to know and Nico was an honorary senator but even he was not allowed to be in the senate house when they are discussing things about Camp.

"Mind telling me why you looked so concern for Arianna?"

The brunette witch looked down in her feet and wondered whether it would be a good idea to tell him about her best friend's past. Telling him would be betraying the redhead girl's trust and she did not want to do that.

"I can't tell you." Hermione answered solemnly. "But let us just say that Arianna would wish that she had never been born in the Wizardly world."

"That bad?"

Hermione nodded and said sadly, "She was accepted to go to Hogwarts as well but she told them that she didn't want to do anything with them."

"I see." Well he didn't but he couldn't say that he didn't understand.

"Well, I will see you in a few days." Hermione said, giving him a small smile.

The black haired boy hesitated as he watched the brunette witch leave him alone to stand outside the senate house. He shook his head and decided that it would be better if he go and get ready for their quest that will happen in a few days. Who knows maybe something unexpected will happen!

He frowned as he thought about his part in the prophecy. It had said that he would aid the one to kill his half-brother and that his union with the owl and lyre would bring about a change but what type of change? What had they meant by his union with Hermione? They weren't together or anything so what had they meant? This was one of the many reasons why he hated prophecies simply because he couldn't understand them.

It would have been nice if he had been able to stay in England for other reasons then to kill his insane relative. But beggars can't be choosers.

* * *

Arianna's mind was not with the senators as they talked about what they planned to do for the legion. Her mind was simply back to the day of the car crash where her mother and stepfather had been killed in.

It was the first time that her stepfather had been able to convince her mother to take the car for a drive instead of simply disappearing or whatever those wizards called it. It had been the first time they left her in the house with a babysitter and it was also a time when she had loved magic. Funny, it only took one accident for her to change her mind on wizards and magic.

They had died a few short hours in the hospital with their relatives by their side that was what the police told her babysitter, who had looked at her in pity and sadness. She didn't practically remember the babysitter's name except that she had been so nice and gentle to tell her that her parents were not coming back.

They were in a deep sleep that was what the babysitter told her but at the age of six, Arianna knew better. She had known that they were dead and knew that her relatives could have saved them but didn't! No they wanted to get custody of her and use her money.

But that wasn't why she hated wizards and witches, they were completely illogical and prejudice. Blood-purity was in her eyes simply something very stupid seeing as every witch and wizard had come from a muggle-born witch or wizard. They were also very hypocritical especially the ones that claim to love muggle-borns! If they love them then why not protect them or give them better rights?

The way they treated magical creatures made her even angrier. Werewolves weren't bad people, none of them wished for it yet they are treated badly for something that they have no control of. Don't let her get started on those house elves but the only person that she believed was a truly good person was Hermione, who kept her word.

Arianna couldn't help but frown as she thought about her best friend and the ambassador of Pluto. There was something between them and the line in the prophecy told her that it was fated yet why didn't Octavian told her? Most likely so that their family line doesn't get tainted by the Greeks. Arianna liked Nico but as a brother.

It wasn't a surprise that she had immediately agreed and do the quest even if it meant going to see the wizards. _The child of the rooster will soon have to make a choice._ That line in the prophecy confused her greatly as to what choice must she make?

She shook her head and returned her attention to her fellow senators, deciding that she will think about the line later.

* * *

Lavender and Parvati were trying their hardest not to smirk at Harry, Ron and Ginny as they ate their dinner. They had already told Lizzy about her boyfriend's cheating ways and the Ravenclaw was certainly not happy with him especially when they told her about Hermione's disappearance. Not many people knew that the two girls were somewhat friends.

"Oh, hello Harry can we talk?" Lizzy asked, giving her soon to be ex-boyfriend a sweet smile. Lizzy was a pretty girl from Ravenclaw that had straight sandy blond hair as well as having high cheek bones and chocolate brown eyes as well being well known for having the sharpest tongue known to Hogwarts.

"Whatever you want to say you can say in front of them."

Lavender and Parvati couldn't help but chuckle at him causing their fellow Gryffindors to look at them in confusion. They simply gave them a small smile but didn't say anything.

The blond haired girl narrowed her eyes at Ron and Ginny. She didn't want to believe it but Ginny had been smirking at her and he had been distant. She really didn't want to break up with him but he cheated on her and she couldn't forgive him for that! But she also was going to talk some sense into him. She never liked Ron and Ginny and had told him that but he never listened to her and when she tells him about Hermione being gone well she hoped that he will snap out of it.

"I am breaking up with you."

"What? But why?" Harry asked. Ginny frowned in anger at the heartbreak in her secret boyfriend's voice. She was supposed to be in his mind not that ugly blond haired girl.

"Why?" Lizzy asked in anger. "BECAUSE YOU IDIOT YOU HAVE BEEN CHEATING ON ME WITH THAT REDHEAD B***H FOR THE PAST GOD KNOW HOW MANY MONTHS! WE HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL OR DID YOU FORGET!"

Everyone's attention was at the Gryffindor's table and was looking at Lizzy and Harry in curiosity. This was the first time that they had seen them argue and the fact that the boy-who-lived had cheated on Lizzy was even better. In fact almost everyone wished that they could take a photo about this.

"I-I can explain!" Harry pleaded.

The blond haired girl nearly caved in when she saw the pleading look in his eyes but didn't. She had to be strong for her sake and caving in to his demand would make her weak! And she was not weak.

"Really then can you explain to me why you said those horrible things to Hermione?" she asked icily. "Or why she is gone?"

"Hermione is gone? What do you mean she is gone?" Harry asked in shock.

Lizzy nodded and yelled, " HAVE YOU BEEN TOO BUSY KISSING THAT REDHEAD S**T THAT YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THAT YOUR BEST FRIEND WAS GONE! OF COURSE NOT, YOU WERE TOO BUSY SAYING ALL THOSE BAD THINGS ABOUT HER!"

Harry didn't bother to protest his ex-girlfriend's words. She was right, he had been too busy to see that Hermione was gone but he will never admit this to her or everyone.

"You know Hermione had been there for you through thick and thin unlike them!" Lizzy said, pointing her finger at the two redheads. "She always believed in you and told me that she believed that you were going to be a great leader but honestly looking at you now, I do not know what she saw!"

As Lizzy had been yelling, everyone started to realized that Hermione was truly had been missing and had not been sick. Dumbledore was surprised that he didn't notice in fact that he was surprised that none of the staff notice. He would have put it off because of the Triwizard tournament but still it was no excuse.

Lizzy then looked at Ron and simply said, "You are a bastard you know that? You would leave Harry every time when he gets fame all because you can't get over your petty jealously. Is that how a true Gryffindor's acts or is that only you?"

The blond haired girl now looked at Ginny and then splatted, "You know I pity Fred and George for having a sister like you! You also like stealing people boyfriends in fact I bet that you are only with Harry for the money and not for the man that he is!"

"That is not true." Ginny said. _How did that girl figure it out so fast?_ Ginny thought, trying her best not to glare at the girl.

Lizzy curled her lips into a sweet smile and sweetly answered, "You may have him but remember I had him first, I was his first kiss and everything else. And besides, he will not stay with you forever, he will one day find a girl better suited for him!"

"Are you challenging me!" Ginny yelled.

The blond haired girl chuckled and answered, "No, I am simply stating the truth because let us face it, what can you offer him?"

"Many things!"

"Really? Oh are you saying that because everyone is staring at you?" Lizzy asked. She didn't stay long to hear Ginny's answer as she now decided to go back to the Ravenclaw table.

Lavender and Parvati couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction at the pain look on Harry's face. Maybe the boy was learning his lesson but they weren't going to ease their punishment on him. Still he was learning his mistakes while Ginny and Ron didn't look like it.

They sighed and wished that Hermione had seen it. But who knows they might see the brunette witch again but only if she decides to come back.

* * *

**Author Note: Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic**

**Author Note: This must be one of my shortest chapters of this fanfic and please forgive me for that but I really had a writer's block.**

* * *

It had been three days since the meeting with the council and Hermione had not seen Arianna or Nico in those three days. They all agreed that they would leave Camp to go for their quest after three days, giving them enough time to pack their stuff and say their goodbyes or in Arianna's case appoint a temporary replacement.

"Must you really go, Mia?" Alice asked and Hermione reluctantly nodded her head at her in pain. The younger girl was trying her best not to cry but it was futile. Without any warning, Alice hugged her sister and cried her heart out to her.

"I will be back before you know it, chipmunk!" Hermione said, smiling at her sister.

"Really? Do you promise?"

Hermione hesitated and looked at her parents for advise and both of them nodded reluctantly at her. She frowned at them and then looked at her sister, she really didn't want to break her sister's heart but making that promise was just too big a price.

"I can't promise you that." Hermione said solemnly. The sad look on her sister's face made her regret saying that but if she hadn't than she would be a liar and wasn't as a good of a liar like Arianna.

"Than when you come back, can you promise to teach me all those healing methods that you use?" Alice asked. Her eyes lit up in hope for her answer.

"Of course." Hermione said, grinning at her little sister. "I can't teach Austin this, he doesn't have the patience like me and you have. And you must promise me that you will take care of Crookshanks, he will be terribly lonely without me."

Alice giggled at her sister's words and gave her one last hug before hesitantly going back to her room. Hermione shook her head at her sister's habit and than turned her attention to her parents, who both looked at lost at what to say to her.

They stared at each other; all three of them didn't know what to say to each other. Her parents knew that this quest wasn't any ordinary quest after all no quest lasts for two years. The longest quest she had been on was two years ago and it only lasted a month.

"Hermione, I will admit that I have issues with you going on this quest." Favian admitted, looking at his eldest daughter with sadness and regret. "Especially with a Greek but please understand that whatever happens that I will not look at you in the wrong way."

"Dad!" Hermione said, looking at him in shock. "What made you change your mind? Why are you saying such things?"

Favian smiled but didn't answer his daughter's question instead deciding to have one last look at his daughter. She had his hair and eyes just like Alice but everything else was definitely of her mother especially with her personality. He was going to loose her to that boy and nothing he can do would change it.

"Your father had just change of his heart." Aurelia informed her daughter, smiling at her.

The brunette witch raised her eyebrows in suspicion at her parents but didn't say anything. This wasn't the time for her to ask any questions or get into a fight with them; she won't be able to see them for two whole years. But at least she would still have Arianna and unfortunately Nico.

"I will be back in two years, Mom, Dad." Hermione said, smiling at them.

Her mother nodded and said with all seriousness, "I know and when you do come back, please bring me back a son-in-law to spoil."

The brown-haired girl blushed at her mother's words before shaking her head at her mother's behavior. Of all the things her mother had to joke about, it had to be this and this time too.

"Sweetheart, I don't think that was very funny." Favian said, paling at the thought of Hermione getting married. The mere idea of his little girl getting married was one that he couldn't think of. He didn't want it to happen anytime soon.

"I wasn't joking." Aurelia said, smirking at her daughter. "I have a feeling that by the time she comes back, she would be married."

"Mother! I am not going to get married and not at such a young age!" Hermione yelled in disbelief. The mere idea of her getting married was laughable and besides who would want to marry her?

"Really now? So in two years time, I won't see you having a ring in your finger?" Aurelia said, grinning at her.

The brown-haired girl nodded solemnly at them while her mother gave her a knowing look. Favian frowned and wondered what did her nephew and her discuss yesterday about. The boy did not want him to hear telling him that it will be better if Aurelia would hear it first and that he will know when the gods will allow him to tell.

He sighed and watched as his daughter left the house to go to the Principia to meet with her quest members. Favian suddenly realized that his daughter was growing up and that he never noticed. He curled his lips and wished to his patron that his daughter came back home unharmed.

* * *

Nico watched as Arianna paced around the room. Looking at the redhead made him feel dizzy and he wondered why Hermione was late, the girl was almost never late for anything. He sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe now he had the chance of getting some sleep.

"Sorry, I am late!" Hermione panted, giving them an apologetic look. Nico raised his eyebrows and saw that the brown-haired girl had a slight redness of her cheeks as well as tiredness.

"Why were you late?" Nico asked, looking at her in curiosity. He allowed his eyes to wonder at her appearance and gulped at the red shirt that clung to her body but relaxed when he saw that she wore jeans. He couldn't help but think that he was going to be in hell if she was going to wear clothes like that for the next two years.

"…I was just saying good-bye to my parents."

Nico shook his head as he realized that he hadn't paid slowly nodded at her, giving her a small smirk that he knew all too well that she hated. She glared at him causing him to smirk even more widely at her.

"What the hell are you thinking Di Angelo?"

The son of Pluto chuckled and said, "I was just thinking that you looked absolutely incredible in those clothes but I wonder…."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him and waited for him to continue but the older boy simply chuckled and shook his head at her. She clenched her hands into a fist and said angrily, "What were you about to say?"

"Do you really want to know?" Nico asked, grinning at her mischievously.

The brunette witch nodded and he grinned impishly at her before whispering the words into her ears. The young witch face started to turn several shades of red and slammed her fist on the boy's head.

"You are crude, perverted, boy!" Hermione yelled.

Arianna frowned and looked at her best friend and Nico before chuckling. It was interesting to see Hermione's face turn several shades of red and she didn't know it was from embarrassment or anger. Probably both but she was leaning to the first.

The son of Pluto rubbed his head and said, "You were curious to know and I told you. But they weren't kidding when they say the truth hurts."

"Honestly is that always on your mind?" Hermione asked. Arianna noticed that the brunette seemed to be looking at the floor as she said this or how she glanced at Nico and than blushed. What did the boy say to make her seemed so flush?

"Of course, especially around. You are of course an extremely gorgeous girl." Nico complimented Hermione.

The redhead chuckled as she watched her friend turned an even darker shade of red at Nico's compliment. It seemed like her best friend might have a crush on Nico well it was either that or the son of Pluto was just really good at riling her up.

"Well, I ma afraid that compliment that you said earlier was totally out of line!" Hermione informed him, gritting her teeth at him.

"But you like it." Nico said, smirking at her. "I bet you are curious to know what it is like."

"I do not!" Hermione denied. She stared at him and he chuckled at the younger girl's naivety as well as the fact that he was being straight forward even through he only just realized that he had feelings for the girl.

"Than why are you looking at me in curiosity as well?" He grinned at her and continued, "Face it, you have the hot for me."

"I do not!" Hermione denied. "Why the hell would I like an arrogant jerk like you? Besides you are not my type."

Nico smiled at her and leaned close to her. Hermione sniffed and closed her eyes at the scent. He still smelled of musk but she wonder if he still taste the same as before.

"You like me." Nico whispered into her ear. He did not understand why he was doing such things to her but he did know that he liked being this close to her.

"I don't! I will never like you." Hermione snarled, pushing him out of her way. If he had come anymore closer, she did not know what her actions might have been. It was difficult for her to even think when he was this close to her.

The son of Pluto blinked his eyes at her and firmly said, "Then I will change your mind." He grinned at her. "I am going to make you fall in love with me."

"You can try but I have to tell you that I am going to make it hard." Hermione said firmly.

The son of Pluto nodded and said, "Well I like a challenge, _Amore._"

Hermione frowned and wondered what the word meant. She opened her mouth to ask the question but he smirked at her causing her to glare at him. Oh how she wished that she could punch the boy.

The brunette witch calmed herself down and reminded herself that hitting the boy would do no one any good. She glanced at him and than blushed as she remembered the words that he whispered into her ears.

"You two should really stop flirting! We still have a job to do, the both of you can flirt all you want when we get there!" Arianna yelled, smirking at the two of them. Hermione and Nico glanced at each other and blushed before denying the fact that they were flirting.

Arianna simply raised her eyebrows at them and gestured at them to come to the gates. She could tease the two of them later when they got to the bus that will take them to the Ministry of Magic.

* * *

**Author Note: Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic**

**Author Note: I am sorry it had been a long time since I updated but I had been busy with school and so my updates would now be random but I will try my best to make it once a week.**

* * *

The ride to the Ministry of Magic was both interesting and amusing if you were to ask Arianna. While the ride may have been slightly quiet, the redhead didn't miss the blush that Hermione would occasionally give to Nico or how whenever the two caught each other staring would turn around and blush.

It was actually a surprise for her to see Hermione to act this way especially with the son of Pluto but in so many ways, it made sense. The way those two always argue or how her best friend would always complain about the boy's behavior and in her friend's words 'the day I like Di Angelo is the day I see Jupiter and Neptune not fighting.' All these things were hints.

It made her wonder why Hermione was denying her feelings towards the boy. If she likes a boy then she will tell the boy that she liked him well that was how she acted with the few boys that she had dated.

"Are we there yet!" Nico asked, looking at the McDonald billboard signs with longing.

"No, Di Angelo for the millionth time we are not there yet!" Hermione yelled, looking at the son of Pluto in frustration.

"Well then how long would it be till we get there?" Nico asked.

The brunette witch sighed and admitted, "A whole two hours, unfortunately. I don't know why they wouldn't allow us to use the floo to get there!"

"Maybe because they didn't want to get their floors dirty." Nico suggested as he leaned against his seat.

"Or maybe it is because it will be to suspicious, you two!" Arianna said, giving the two teens a pointed look. The two of them gave her a sheepish look and she chuckled at them. It wasn't their fault that they felt irritated, she was also as well as nervous.

"So the Ministry of Magic in America, what is it like?" Hermione asked Arianna, looking at her friend in curiosity.

The redhead smiled grimly at her friend's question and wonders how she could describe the Ministry to them without criticizing it. To be fair to herself, she criticizes everything to do with the Ministry of Magic in both America and Britain but was more lenient to America.

"You would be surprise at its location, Hermione and I have no doubt that Nico here would like the location very much." Arianna said, giving them a small smile.

"You haven't told us what the Ministry of Magic in America is like." Nico pointed out dryly. The son of Hades leaned against his seat and looked out at the scenery and than a lingering look at Hermione, which was noticed by Arianna.

_He has got it bad!_ Arianna thought, grinning at Nico. If she had doubts about his feelings towards Hermione before than the look that he had just given towards her would have been proof for her.

Looking at Hermione and than at Nico, Arianna wondered if it would be a good idea for her to set the two up. No, she would given them a month to admit their feelings to each other and if they haven't admit their feelings after a month, she would simply forced them too.

"Arianna, you haven't answered our question about the Ministry of Magic!" Hermione said, looking at her with concern.

The redhead sighed and answered, "I can tell you without a doubt that the Ministry of Magic here is more open-minded about some of the issues that I am against and are also more lenient on other matters as well."

"I see," Nico said, nodding his head at them. "But I do have a question, would the Minister of Magic help England when Lord Voldemort attacks?"

Hermione looked down at her feet as she waited for her friend's response. From what she had read, when Lord Voldemort attacked the first time, the American wizards didn't do anything to help and what Di Angelo had asked was a good question.

"Honestly, I doubt it." Arianna said softly. "They may be more lenient and nicer than its British counterparts but the chances of them helping Britain when the trouble comes is very unlikely."

"Why not?" Nico asked in concern.

Arianna looked at them grimly and angrily answered, "Because in their eyes this is not their war!"

Nico looked at them in shock and for the second time in Hermione's life, she saw anger in his eyes. It surprised her that he would care so much about this when he wasn't the one that was going to suffer but than again, the son of Pluto had always surprised her. When she thinks she had figure him out, it turns out her assumptions were wrong.

"If he is anything like my father had described him to be than it will become their war. A madman like him won't stop with just only England, he would go and conquer other countries." Nico said, glaring at the seat in front of him.

"You truly are upset about this aren't you?" Hermione asked softly, looking at the son of Pluto with worry.

The black-haired boy nodded his head at her and looked at her with so much concern that it took all of her will-power not to blush. She closed her eyes and looked at Arianna, who had an amuse smile on her lips as if she knew something that she didn't.

"Why wouldn't I be? I mean that man is doing things that are not only illegal but also wrong! He is a damn hypocrite too! I mean his father didn't have any magic in him!" Nico said, looking at them with anger and determination.

"His father was a muggle?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Yes," Nico answered, giving them a small smile. "Apparently he didn't tell anyone about this fact since he was ashamed to admit the fact that he wasn't a pureblood!"

Hermione and Arianna looked at each other and nodded their head at each other in agreement. Both of them knew that Nico was right but the black-haired boy didn't know the true extent of what they were going through. How could he? He may be able to control the dead but he can't use magic.

"So, Di Angelo how did you came to know of him?" Hermione asked, looking at the black-haired boy with curiosity.

"I only learned of it this year when some poor man's soul had told my father about the way that he died." Nico admitted. "After that, father would be cussing and well I don't need to tell you about how bad his temper is."

"I see, so he was the one that told you about him." Hermione said.

The son of Hades nodded his head at her and added thoughtfully, "Yes, he wanted me to see if I can get any information about his whereabouts and it was part of the reason why I was in Hogwarts besides of course not fully mastering my abilities."

"Hogwarts? How did you bypass their security, Nico?" Arianna asked, her eyes glinting with mischief as she asked the question.

"Shadow travelling is not repelled in that school!" Nico answered, nodding his head at them. "And if it was, I would be afraid of where I would have been if I hadn't been at the school."

"You might have been attack by a nun again, right Di Angelo?" Hermione asked, smirking at the black-haired boy.

The son of Pluto glared at her and firmly said, "She looked like a monster, Granger, and I mean what type of woman would say such sicken nice things to me! And how the hell was I suppose to know that one must never summon a dead person to attack a nun or that she would try to…" he shudder as he remembered what that scary nun had tried to do to him.

"Di Angelo, you think a monster would go to so much trouble into impersonating a nun? And wouldn't you know if that was a monster?" Hermione asked.

"It was just one time!" Nico complained. "And besides I did apologize to the woman."

"Mind letting me in on the joke, Mia?" Arianna asked, giving a huge mischievous grin to her friend.

"Granger, if you even think of telling her about that incident, I will tell her about the incident when you got tricked into marrying the son of the Ambassador of France." Nico threatened.

The redhead raised her eyebrows at her friend and laughed at the embarrassed look on her best friend's face. She looked at the two of them and wondered how did those two knew so much embarrassing stories? The only time, the two of them were together for so long was when Hermione followed Jason and the others to Rome. Maybe that was when this all happened.

In all honesty, Arianna knew from the very beginning when Hermione and Nico met that the two of them were having feelings towards each other. _Yes_, Arianna thought as she watched her two friends argue,_ those two definitely have feelings for each other_.

* * *

The Ministry of Magic in America did not look like anything that Nico had expected and Arianna wasn't kidding when she said that they would be surprise at its location but Nico honestly didn't mind, after all a Ministry located near McDonald isn't too bad.

Still, why must the Ministry of Magic be located in a train station? If he had known that it was near a train station, he would have told Hermione and Arianna that they should have gotten a train.

Nico looked at Hermione and watched as her face lit up in both curiosity and disappointment. An image flash through his mind of the toga that she had wore in the Senate meeting and how beautiful that she looked in it. He chuckled at his train of thought, which caused the brunette girl raised her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips.

"What is so funny, Di Angelo?" Hermione snapped.

He chuckled at her and whispered to her ear, "I was just thinking that you look better in that toga than what you are wearing now but I think that you look better in other things, if you know what I mean."

The brunette witch flushed deep red at his comment, causing him to smile in amusement at her. He watched as a couple of emotions ran through her eyes as if she was deciding whether to be angry with him or be embarrassed.

"That is inappropriate Di Angelo!" Hermione whispered to him as they followed Arianna inside the Ministry of Magic.

"Now who has a dirty mind, Granger," Nico said, smiling innocently at her. "All I am saying that you look better in other clothes not what you are thinking, it isn't like I was going to say that I am going to kiss your or something even more inappropriate."

"Really now?" Hermione asked, walking closer to him until the two of them were now side by side. "So, if I were to ask you to kiss me you wouldn't do that because it was 'inappropriate' right?"

His throat became dry at her question and he opened his mouth to say yes but was stopped by the teasing smile on her lips. She leaned close to him and Nico could smell the strawberry shampoo on her hair. The two of them leaned closer to each other until they were of kissing distance of each other, which went unnoticed by Nico. He realized if Hermione tilted her head at him, he could practically kiss her.

"Oi, you two love birds can have your way with each other later!" Arianna said, snapping the two of them from their moment. "Matthew will be here in any minute and I doubt that he would want to see the two of you kiss!"

Hermione and Nico stepped away from each other and blushed before giving a glare to the redhead.

"We were not going to kiss! Di Angelo and I hate each other isn't that right, Di Angelo?" Hermione asked the son of Pluto.

He nodded and said, "Of course, why would I kiss a girl that always seemed ready to strangle me! Besides I doubt that she is a good kisser."

The brunette witch clenched her hands into a fist. She wanted so badly to punch the boy in the head for that comment and to think that she wanted him to kiss her! But boy wouldn't she mind having that little reminder again. No bad thoughts, this was Di Angelo, the same Di Angelo that had lied to her about who he was and the one that cheered her up.

Hermione shook her head and firmly thought to herself that the only reason that she was feeling this way was because he had helped her. In a few months, she will forget about this feeling and the two of them will be back to normal. But than why does her heart ache at the idea of Di Angelo with another woman?

"I presume that the three of you are the ones sent by Camp Jupiter, right?" A voice spoke from behind them.

The three of them twirled around and was surprised to see a handsome boy standing behind them. He might be older than Di Angelo by a good few years if the joyful look on his face told them. Hermione would admit that the man was dead-drop gorgeous, he had the features of a Roman statue, with twinkling blue eyes and messy blond hair.

"He is hot!" Arianna whispered to her friend's ear.

The brunette witch nodded her head in agreement with her friend. The older boy was hot and you would be blind not to see it.

"My name is Matthew Robinson and it is a pleasure to meet all of you." The blond-haired man said, smiling at them. His eyes turned to her and Hermione was embarrassed as the man took her hand and kissed it. "Especially, you my dear, you are as beautiful as Lady Venus." He said.

Hermione turned into a deeper shade of red while Arianna giggled and Nico glared at the man for giving such compliments to her. How dare that bastard flirt with her! He was here to send them to England, not to flirt with her and the brunette girl was younger than him by a good four years as well.

"T-thank you." Hermione stuttered before giving the older boy a firm look. "But, Matthew-"

"Call me Matt, beautiful." Matt said, smiling at her. "Calling me Matthew makes me think that I am still in the army."

"Right, Matt, you do know why me and my friends are here, don't you?" Hermione asked, smiling at him.

The blond-haired boy smiled and said. "Yes, I do and I shall show you to my office beautiful, where you can floo to England."

"Thank you." Hermione said. Her face was still bright red from the complement from the older boy's words.

"It isn't everyday that I have a beautiful woman in my pleasure." Matt said, giving her a flirty smile. Arianna found her lips curling in an amusement when she saw her friend turn a deeper shade of red. She glanced at Nico and laughed at the jealous look on his face.

"So you are not going to kiss a girl that looks ready to strangle you, am I right Nico?" Arianna teased as they followed Matthew, who was still flirting with Hermione, towards his office.

"Shut up! I am not jealous of him!" Nico said, glaring at the back of Matthew's back.

"I didn't say that did I?" Arianna asked, smiling at him.

He glared at her and Arianna took it as her cue to shut up and allow him to sulk at the fact that Hermione was not paying any attention to him. Just looking at the two of them made her wish that she had a love life.

It was surprise for Arianna to see that no one was commenting on the fact that three teenagers were now in the building but than again, they were following Matthew who worked here. She looked at Hermione and Matthew; the poor girl seemed to embarrass to tell the bloke that she was not interested in him.

"What does she see in him?" Nico grumbled, crossing his arms at them.

"Hmm, let me see what she sees in him." Arianna said, tapping her finger on her chin. "He is hot-"

"Percy and Jason are good looking guys but I never seen her fawning over them!" Nico pointed out dryly. Arianna looked at him in disbelief and he raised his eyebrows and said dryly, "I may be a guy but I am not blind besides Angelina always commented about how hot they are."

"So the rumors about you and Angelina were true!" Arianna accused, remembering the rumors about him and the girl from the Greek Camp of his. She didn't believe the rumors and so did Hermione, who had said that the girl was not his type.

"No." Nico said, shaking his head at her. "That girl was too obsessed over me and besides she is not my type."

"Your type?" Arianna asked, smiling impish at him. "Is your type a certain brunette witch in front of us?"

"Of course not!" Nico denied.

"Right…" Arianna said dryly as she looked at him in amusement. "So if Matthew were to ask her out, you won't mind."

"Of course." Nico said, nodding his head at her. She smiled at him and waited for him to realize what he had just admitted to her and after five seconds, the son of Pluto spluttered and said, "No she will not date that boy, he is only after her pants!"

"And you aren't?" Arianna asked.

"Of course not." Nico said, nodding his head at her.

The redhead smiled at him and said with a small smile, "You do realize that you just admitted that you like her more than a friend!"

"Di Angelo likes who more than a friend?" Hermione asked, looking at the two of them in curiosity.

"He likes-"

"I was just telling Arianna here that I used to have a small crush on Annabeth!" Nico lied, glaring at the redhead to say otherwise. Arianna sighed and nodded her head in agreement with Nico.

"Yes," Arianna agreed, smiling at her friend. "Apparently, he had the hots for her for a while."

Hermione frowned and Arianna could almost swear that she saw jealously in her friend's eyes but it must have been her imagination.

"I don't blame you, Ambassador, I would have the hots for her if she was as beautiful as they say." Matt said, smiling at them. "Through I heard rumors that she is engaged to Percy is that true?"

"Yes, Seaweed brain only got the guts to propose to her a few months ago." Nico answered, impassively. "I don't know what is so scary for him not to propose earlier."

"Seaweed brain?" They asked.

"Have you guys met Percy? Most of the time he acts like he got kelp for brains!" Nico said, thinking of his brother's figure.

"I see," Matthew said, giving him a strain smile.

The four of them finally stopped walking when they reached the end of the hallway and in front of them was a door that said in big bright letters, '_Robinson's office.'_

"Do you not work with anyone?" Hermione asked, looking at him in curiosity.

"No I do but it is safer for everyone that I do not work inside the office with everyone else except for projects." Matt explained as he opened the door for them.

"What do you do?" Arianna asked, looking at the books in his table with curiosity.

Matt smiled and answered, "Let us just say that I deal with International affairs."

Hermione and Arianna eyes widen at his words and the two of them quickly bombard questions to him while Nico waited patiently for them to stopped talking.

"Did you three forget that we have a job to do?" Nico asked, glaring at them.

The brunette witch glared at him back and asked, "Is it wrong for us to be questioning Matt about his job?"

"Yes it is!" Nico said, snarling at her. "We got to stop a raving lunatic from killing anymore people or have you forgotten Granger! _Mattie_ here is not going away don't you worry!"

"You are out of line!" Hermione snapped.

Arianna groaned while Matt looked at the two teens in front of him with both amusement and understanding. It amused him to see that a Greek and a Roman would have feelings for each other especially one like Hermione, who did not seem like the type that go for guys like Di Angelo.

"Can you two stop fighting? We still got a job to do!" Arianna yelled, glaring at the two teens.

"But he/she started it!" The two of them yelled, pointing at each other.

"I don't give a damn which one of you started the fight but we got a job to do, remember!" Arianna said, looking at her two friends with tiredness. She knew now it was going to be a long two years especially with how those two acted with each other.

* * *

Harry looked out to the window and thought about the things that he had lost and the mistakes that he had done. Lizzy breaking up with him and yelling at him about Hermione disappearance made him feel guilty. He should have realized that she was gone but he had been too caught up with the fame that he didn't realize that she was gone.

He had said so many awful things about Hermione too and Lizzy had said that Hermione had believed that he could be a great leader but thinking back about his actions made him doubt himself. Hermione had been there through thick and thin unlike Ron and now she is gone. He deserved all the comments that the students had been saying about him.

"I need to make amends for my actions but how?" Harry asked himself, looking out at the window. If only he could ask Hermione about these questions but she wasn't here anymore, he didn't even know if she was even alive.

Not only did he lose his best friend but he lost the girl that he honestly thought that he might have been in love with and all because of Ron pushing him to date his sister. Now, he has to watch Lizzie as she flirts with Terry Boot, which made him sick to his stomach.

He never meant for any of this to happen in all honesty. But what can he do to show everyone that he learned his mistakes? He couldn't break up with Ginny because he was afraid if he did than the Weasley family wouldn't take him in and he didn't want to go back to the Dursley.

That night, Harry wished to God that he could find a way to overcome this difficulty.

* * *

**Author Note: Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic**

**Author Note: I want to thank everyone that had reviewed the last chapter and had added this as their favorite story and story alerts. I also hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

As they stumbled out of the fireplace, Nico decided that would be the first and last time that he was using that method of travelling. It might have been short but the speed was just too much for him to bear and he wondered how do those wizards handle it.

"So, where in Hades are we?" Nico asked, looking at Hermione and Arianna in curiosity. The room that they were in reminded him of those creepy rooms in the horror movies except a lot creepier especially with that bloodstained pack of cards.

The brunette witch dusted off the dirt out of her clothes and looked at the scenery around them before cussing under her breath to both Arianna and Nico surprise.

"Why Granger I did not know that you knew so many cuss words." Nico said, grinning at her. "I wonder how your mother might react."

"First off, Di Angelo shut the hell up and secondly, we are currently at Borgin and Burkes." Hermione said, looking at the items around them with unease and distrust. Arianna eyes widen at her words and she too cursed under her breath at their location.

"I presume that this place is not safe than." Nico said dryly.

"That is understatement, Di Angelo, this shop sells Dark Magic and other dangerous magical artifacts." Hermione said, eyeing the items around them with distrust. "So, it would be advisable for us to leave right now before the owner comes."

"Whatever you say, _Principessa_." Nico said as he gestured for the girls to get out of the room.

"Don't call me that!" Hermione said, glaring at him. She didn't know what was it with him and calling her names in his native tongue, she didn't even understand them but she had a feeling on what he called her.

"What? I can't call you _Principessa_?" Nico asked, smirking at her.

"No, Di Angelo, you can't call me Princi…whatever you just said." Hermione growled as they walked out of the door. Arianna chuckled at her and the brunette witch raised her eyebrows at her friend, which caused the redhead to wiggle her eyebrows at her suggestively.

"Not you too!" Hermione said to her friend.

"What? It is very obvious there is some sexual tension between the two of you." Arianna said as Nico gathered the large group that saw them appear out of the shop to erase their memories.

"There is no sexual tension between us! We can't stand each other." Hermione said firmly.

"Really now?" Arianna asked slyly. "So last year when a girl asked Nico out, you didn't become jealous or had ranted to me about what he had seen in that girl."

"W-What he could have done better than that bimbo!" Hermione pointed out dryly. She was not jealous when the black-haired boy dated that blond bimbo. No she just thought that he could have done better.

"Really and who do you think that he should have been with?" Arianna asked, grinning at her friend. The brunette witch opened her mouth to tell her friend before closing it.

"Well that bimbo was not his type and plus she was only after him because he was a so called 'bad boy.'" Hermione said.

"So you don't think that he is a bad boy." Arianna said.

"Of course not," Hermione scoffed. "He may have the appearance of one but his behavior and attitude isn't especially when it comes to his friends and family."

"Really now?" Arianna said.

"Yes, it just pisses me off that bimbo dated Di Angelo because of the image that they thought of him and not for the person he is." Hermione answered firmly. "It isn't everyday that you meet a boy like Di Angelo."

"I see." Arianna said as she watched Di Angelo erased the memories of the large group of people's memories. "So, Hermione do you have any romantic feelings towards Nico?"

"Of course not, he is a pervert, annoying and don't let me get started about the personal space issue." Hermione said, a small smile played on her lips as the brunette witch heard the story that Nico came up with for why they were in there.

"Hermione that might work on your mother but definitely not on me, so tell me your real feelings towards Nico." Arianna said, smiling at her friend.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Hermione said stiffly.

"You know what I am talking about," Arianna said. "Don't think I haven't noticed the lingering looks at Nico or the blushes. If you don't tell me about your feelings towards him than I will use Veritaserum on you."

The brunette witch sighed in defeat. Her best friend was as stubborn as a mule and it must be a redhead thing because her Aunt Gwen acted the same way. But maybe it was a good idea to tell her friend about her problem.

"I really like him, Arianna and I have liked him for the past two years but as much as I like him, we can't really be together." Hermione answered, glazing at the black-haired boy with fondness.

"Why? Because of your family or because you are afraid?" Arianna asked.

"My parents may say that it is alright for me to like a Greek but how do I really know if there are alright with it? I can still remember the reaction that my father had when he learned that one of our relatives was dating a Greek." Hermione admitted. "I don't want them to look at me in the wrong way."

"So what?" Arianna asked, putting her hands in her hips. "What if he was the one for you? Would you simply give up on him because of your parents? If they don't like the fact that you are dating a Greek than screw them and if you don't tell him how you feels by the end of today, I will force you to."

"I am afraid to ask but what are the two of you talking about?" Nico asked, appearing behind them. The two girls screeched at him and Hermione glared at the boy for scaring them.

"How long have you been standing there?" Arianna asked, clutching her chest.

"Long enough to know that you told Hermione that if her parents don't like the fact that she was dating a Greek than screw her parents and..." Nico trailed off, glancing at her with concern and was that jealously that she was seeing? Must be her imagination.

"So long enough." Arianna concluded.

"Yes." Nico agreed. "So, who is the guy that you like?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" Hermione teased, smirking at the black-haired boy.

His face turned bright red and irritably said, "Of course not, why the hell would I be jealous?"

"Sure you are jealous." Hermione said, smiling at him. Arianna rolled her eyes at her friends and wondered if this was how life with those two would be like because she can conclude that it will be entertainment.

"No, I am not Granger!" Nico denied as the two of them walk out of Knockturn Alley and into Diagon Alley. The brunette witch chuckled at him and told him that as annoying as he is, he was still her favorite Greek.

"Through you are the only Greek that I spend so much time with." Hermione pointed out dryly.

The black-haired boy nodded his head at her words and turned his attention towards the buildings around them. It reminded him of the olden days of England or to be precise on what he thought it would have been like at the time but with a few differences. The leaning of the building made him think that it would have collapse without them having magic.

"It must be nice for the two of you to be back at home." Nico said as he gawked along with the other small kids at the broomstick. Hermione chuckled at his enthusiasm while Arianna simply glowered at the reminder that she was a witch.

"I haven't been in this world for the past eight years so no." Arianna said dryly while Hermione shook her head at her. The redhead looked at the shops around them and wondered for the fifth time in her life, why there wasn't any prank stores here.

"It is nice to be back." Hermione admitted as she looked at Flourish and Blotts with longing.

"Of course, you miss the books more than the magic." Nico teased, causing the brunette witch to blush. Arianna and Nico chuckled at the girl; both of them knew how deep her love for books are.

"Yes well the books that they have are very interesting." Hermione defended herself. "I mean Di Angelo can you imagine a book about a world that you know very little about?"

"Yes a history book about the last eighty years." Nico said dryly, reminding him how old he was suppose to be. "I can still remember how many questions I ask the taxi driver about his car. Never seen a taxi driver looked so annoyed till I met him but yeah I do understand."

Hermione chuckled in embarrassment while her best friend shook her head at her. Can you blame her for forgetting that small detail? Most of the time, Nico acted like a boy from this century not from the last century. Through it must have been hard for him to see that the world has changed and he wasn't there to see it.

"So how are we going to get into Hogwarts?" Nico asked as they walked out of the Leaky Cauldron. He ignored the stares from the clients inside this establishment instead he focused his attention to the brunette witch beside him.

The busy street in front of him made him wonder why hadn't anyone had noticed that three teenagers coming out of the shop from a middle of nowhere. Not that he was complaining; it just made their job easier.

"I don't know." Hermione admitted, snapping him from his thoughts.

Nico eyes widen in shock and said in shock, "There are things you don't know! I thought you were suppose to be the smartest out of the three of us, how can you not plan ahead?!"

"Di Angelo, it isn't as easy as you think! I have to think of the fact that you are a muggle first and also Hogwarts is the safest place in the whole Wizardly World." Hermione hissed.

"Really? Then how in my father's name was I able to get in there?" Nico asked dryly. "I guess it isn't as safe as you think!"

"Di Angelo, you might be able to shadow travel but can you control that ability of yours? And besides not only do we have to consider the fact that you are a muggle but also think of a believable story that Professor Dumbledore can believe." Hermione explained, trying her best to control her temper.

"Tell him the truth." Nico suggested. "I mean if he is truly as powerful as he says he is then how do you know that he won't check on the alibi?"

"He has a point, Hermione." Arianna said dryly. "He might check the alibi and besides how are we going to explain your disappearance? Kidnapping is a very good story but how did you get out? Who took you? These are questions that he might ask."

"I know but I don't want anything…"

"Hermione, telling the truth to him will solve our problems and he might help us with this issue." Nico said, ignoring the surprise look on her face when he called her by her first name. "But we can lie to the school but not to him."

"You called me Hermione." Hermione muttered.

Nico chuckled and pointed out, "Isn't that your name? I mean I can't keep calling you, Granger after all we are going to work together and that means no last names in front of people."

"You are right, Di…sorry Nico. We can't call each other by the last name after all we have to work together." Hermione said. She turned to talk to Arianna and to her suspicion and surprise; the redhead girl was nowhere in sight.

"Where is Arianna?" Hermione asked.

"She was here a minute ago." Nico said, looking around the busy street for their companion.

The brunette witch frowned and her eyes widen in realization in what the redhead girl had planned. She was going to strangle the girl for leaving her alone with Nico but in the other hand, her friend was right, she needed to tell Nico about her feelings towards him before it makes her distracted from the mission.

"Nico, there is something I have to tell you." Hermione said, looking at the black-haired boy with a nervous look.

Nico furrowed his eyebrows at her, not understanding why the brunette girl was being nervous. She had never seemed that nervous to him before in fact at times he would go far as to say that not once in his life had he seen her give such looks at him.

"What is it?" Nico asked.

The brunette witch curled her hands into a fist and opened her mouth to tell him of her feelings before closing it. What if he didn't like her in that way? Sure he had nearly kissed her before but how does she know that he wasn't playing around? No, she needed to tell him.

"I like you." Hermione answered finally.

"Like me?" Nico asked. "I know that you like me or you would want to strangle me like those boys in that old cohort of yours."

"Not like that." Hermione said, looking down to her feet in nervousness.

"What do you mean? I honestly don't understand you." Nico said, furrowing his eyebrows at her in confusion.

"I…"

"Yes, you…" Nico pressed on.

_Screw talking if that boy doesn't understand by words then I will have to show him._ Hermione thought as she grabbed the boy by the helm of his shirt and kissed him right on the lips.

For a moment there, Nico was frozen in shock. He couldn't believe that this was happening to him, it had to be a dream because Hermione would never kiss him in a thousand years. It was only until the brunette witch started to pull back when he realized that he wasn't dreaming.

Hermione's eyes widen as Nico pulled her closer and started to kiss her back with such passion. She closed her eyes and thought to herself that the black-haired boy still smelt like musk and taste like chocolate and vanilla mixed together.

Unconsciously, her hands started to ran though his messy hair while Nico pulled her even closer as if he couldn't get enough of her. The two of them couldn't get enough of each other.

Hermione didn't know how long the two of them had been kissing but she knew that she didn't want the kiss to end. But sadly all good things must come to an end and her end came from an interruption.

"I leave you guys for ten minutes and I come back to see the two of you making out in front of people." Arianna said, pulling the two teens out of their trance.

Hermione and Nico stared at each other and than blush before untangling themselves from each other. The two of them were still holding hands as Arianna noticed.

"S-so where have you been?" Hermione asked as she avoided looking at her best friend's amused eyes.

The redhead grinned and answered mischievously, "I got us a ride to Hogwarts, one that can solve all of our problems."

"What is it?" Nico asked. He glanced at Hermione and grinned at the sight of her bruise lips, which was all his doing.

"I might have stolen a car." Arianna said, shrugging her shoulders at them.

"You did what!" Hermione screeched.

"I stole a car." The redhead answered.

"I can't believe you! And what makes you think taking a car will solve our problems on transport?" Hermione asked tiredly.

"I might have used magic on it to make it a flying car." Arianna admitted and she flinched under the glare of both Nico and Hermione at her response. "What did you want me to do? I couldn't go and get us tickets to a train to Hogwarts could I? A flying car was the best answer."

"Did you not think of the consequence of this action?" Hermione hissed. "The owner might…"

"He might call the police on us!" Nico said, finishing the brunette witch's sentence. "And have you thought that it would not be safe for me to be on the air considering who I have for a father!"

"About that…" Arianna chuckled uneasily.

"Don't tell me that you…"

"I did." Arianna admitted. "But only because I was desperate for us to get this over and done with."

Nico and Hermione stared at each other and came to an agreement not to leave the redhead by herself. They also knew that they needed to have a talk about the kiss that they just had and Hermione didn't know about Nico but she was nervous about talking about the kiss.

They followed the redhead to the location where she had parked the car. Hermione gave Nico an uneasy look when she saw her friend had parked the car in an alleyway. She hated places like that and her best friend knew that but no her friend had to make her confront her fear.

"Well, at least you had stolen a good car." Nico said, nodding his head in approval at the red Ferrari in front of them. Hermione looked at him in shock and the black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders as his response.

"I know that I stole a good car." Arianna said, smirking at them. "This car will allow us to arrive there in style."

"Now the better question is who is going to drive the car?" Hermione asked, glancing at the car in front of them with weariness and fear.

Arianna smiled at her friend and looked at Nico, who seemed to be daydreaming again. Leaving them to steal the car had been a good decision but she wished that she had at least allowed them to have the talk but they are in a busy schedule. Through looking at them, she had an idea on where those two might be heading.

"Arianna, are you paying attention?" Hermione asked, snapping her from her daydream.

"Well here is the plan…"

* * *

This was how three hours later, Nico found himself sitting in the back of the Ferrari car with Hermione sitting beside him and Arianna driving. He had been hoping to drive the car but logic decree that he shouldn't drive in the air, a fact that he hated. But he didn't mind too badly, he was still distracted about the kiss.

He closed his eyes as he thought about the kiss. It felt so familiar as if he had kissed her before but he was sure that he had never kissed her before because he would have remembered such an amazing kiss. Kissing Hermione was a completely different experience; it made him think that was his first kiss again except even more special.

But for some strange reason, he remembers a similar kiss with a familiar girl but he couldn't have kissed Hermione that long ago. He would have remembered that amazing kiss if it had been her.

"So, how long would it be before we reached Hogwarts?" Nico asked.

Hermione looked at him and to his amusement, the brunette witch face turned deep red. He gave her a grin and to his sadness that got the brunette witch to stop blushing and return to her normal behavior.

"It takes about seven hours to get there by train and the same goes for this car." Hermione answered, leaning against her seat.

"You got to be kidding me!" Nico said, looking at her in disbelief. "I am not staying up in the air for seven hours! It is a miracle that Lord Zeus isn't frying me for being in the air."

"Calm down you big baby, nothing bad is going to happen." Hermione said, looking at him reassurance.

"Who are you and what have you done to Hermione! She is never this layback before." Nico said.

The brunette witch eyebrows twitch at his words and to his relief the younger girl didn't punch him in the nose for his comment. He got to admit that when Hermione is angry, she looked very beautiful or in this century hot.

"Look Di Angelo, if Lord Jupiter didn't fry you for being up in the air now then I doubt that he would do it now!" Hermione said, gritting her teeth at him. "And for your information I can be layback if I wanted to!"

"_Principessa,_ I think you should call me Nico after all what we have been through." Nico said. "Especially after we…"

Hermione face turned beet red at his words and Nico could see that by the hazy look on her eyes that he wasn't the only one that liked the kiss. He frowned and wondered what was their relationship now, at one hand they like each other and in the other hand they had work together.

"Oh yes how was the kiss?" Arianna asked. Nico didn't need to see her face to know that the redhead was laughing at them and he swear on the day that the redhead finds a boy that she likes, he would do the same thing as her.

"Arianna! This is not the time to discuss such things!" Hermione said, glaring at her friend.

"Oh come on, can't I be at least be curious? I mean my half-brothers likes to ruin my love life and they take great joy of scaring any potential boyfriends." Arianna complained.

"Well I am sorry about that but that doesn't mean you have to pry into our love life!" Nico said.

"Why not? It took you guys nearly three years to admit that you like each other!" Arianna said as she turned the car to the bend that followed Hogwarts.

"You liked me for three years!" Nico said, looking at Hermione in shock.

The brunette witch glared at her best friend for spilling that little detail. Only now her friend realize about the boy that she had liked since they met and she had to spill that little secret to him.

"So what if I did! It wasn't like you had feelings for me doing that time!" Hermione said, looking down at the car's floor. "And besides, I was twelve years old, it was only natural for me to have a crush on an older boy. I mean I once had a crush on Oliver Wood and I once had a crush on Ron and thank goodness I got over that real quick."

Nico gritted his teeth and he knew if he ever met that Oliver Wood boy that he would make sure to punch the boy. Now with Ron, well he got a lot of ideas on how to torment the boy.

"So I was a crush." Nico said as Hermione continued to stare at him.

"Y-yes." Hermione stuttered. "One that I thought I need to get over real quick! Because the mere idea of you liking me is well strange."

Nico narrowed his eyes at her and asked, "Why the hell would it be strange for me to like you? You have to be one of the most interesting girls that I have met."

Hermione blushed at his complement and glance at Arianna, who was whistling a familiar tune to her. The redhead gave her a small wink through the rear mirror and thumbs up before returning her attention back to the train tracks in front of them.

"Thank you but you have to admit that I am not as pretty as your ex-girlfriends." Hermione said sadly.

"You are right." Nico said and the brunette witch looked down at the floor in sadness. He grinned at her and continued, "You are way more prettier than them and far more intelligent and kind as well."

Hermione looked at him in shock and the black-haired boy rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I am not comfortable talking about my feelings," Nico admitted to her. "But I do know that I like you a lot and well I might not be the best choice for you, I mean…" he sighed in frustration, not knowing how to explain it to her.

"You do realize that I don't mind you being a Greek or the fact that at times you don't understand the modern world right?" Hermione pointed out dryly. She smiled and continued, "I like you Nico and I wouldn't have kissed you if I don't like that way."

"But seriously why me? Of all the guys that you know, you pick me! Your parents might not like the fact that you are dating a…"

Nico wasn't able to finish his sentence because Hermione had gently pulled him by the shirt and kissed him on the lips. He couldn't help but return that kiss and it took all of his will power not to do anything inappropriate to her.

"As Arianna told me, screw my parents. I have the right to choose who I date and if they don't like who I am dating than they will have to deal with it." Hermione said as they broke the kiss.

"I don't want to be the reason why your family and you fighting." Nico said earnestly. He suddenly realized that Hermione was now sitting on his lap and he gently moved her back to her seat.

"Do you or do you not want to date me? Because I have no problems in finding another guy to date, I mean I could go on that date Matt had asked me on earlier." Hermione said, shrugging her shoulders at him.

Nico eyes widen at her revelation and before she knew it, the black-haired boy was giving her looks of possession. "You are mine! You are not going to date that bastard."

"But you said you don't want to be the reason why my family and I would be fighting." Hermione pointed out.

"Yes well I changed my mind." Nico said dryly before crashing their lips together. Unlike the kiss earlier, it was filled with passion and anger as well as possession and to Hermione's surprise, she didn't mind that kiss one bit in fact she found herself enjoying the kiss very much.

The moment that she parted her lips, Nico slipped his tongue into her mouth and gently massaged her tongue. She squeaked when she felt the son of Pluto hands squeezed her hips with such gentleness and hesitance that it made her smile as they kissed.

"As much as I like seeing you two resolve that tension of yours, I would rather prefer if you guys don't do it in the car!" Arianna said. Hermione and Nico reluctantly pull away from each other and blushed at the redhead girl's words.

"I am sorry about that, _Principessa_, I don't know what got over me." Nico said, looking at her with embarrassment. "I don't usually do things like that but kissing you just makes me loose all self-control."

"I would have thought that you would have…"

"No!" Nico said, shaking his head at her. "I am a lot of things but I won't do that to a girl."

"Really now? It certainly didn't seem that way just now." Hermione pointed out dryly.

Nico shook his head at her and said, "Well you just make me loose all self-control that I do have."

"Really now? So if we haven't stop, we might have…"

"Maybe." Nico admitted.

The brunette witch face turned bright red at this revelation and she looked at the son of Pluto with careful eyes. She couldn't help but allow her eyes to look at the shirt that he wore, which was now messy because of her constant tugging and his messy hair that became even messier because of how many times she played with it.

"What are we Nico? Do you want to date or forget about this experience?" Hermione asked.

"I wish to take you out on a date, _Principessa._ The things that I did just now were not something a girl like you deserve." Nico said.

Hermione eyebrows twitch and she growled. "A girl like me!? Do tell me what does a girl like me deserve?"

"A girl like you needs to be taken on a proper date and deserves to be treated like her status." Nico answered, ignoring the angry look on her face.

"Let me get this straight, you want to take me on a date." Hermione said.

"Of course I do. I do have some gentleman manners in me but most of them I just don't use." Nico admitted. His eyes soften and he said, "Look Hermione, I really like you and the best way for me to show you that is by taking you out on a date."

Hermione smiled at him and for the first time in her life, she wonders if just maybe she might be able to get her happy ending. Well if there was one thing for sure, she had never felt so much happiness until Nico admitted that he really like her.

* * *

**Author Note: I really tried my best to describe the kiss between them but I am not that good in describing scenes like that so please review to tell me what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I want to thank everyone that had reviewed the last chapter and had added this as their favorite story and story alerts. I also hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

**Pairing: Hermione/Nico, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Oc, mentions of Oc/Oc, Hermione/oc.**

* * *

The ride to Hogwarts after her and Nico's talk was filled with a lot of teasing from Arianna, who had taken great pleasure in teasing them. The redhead would always tease them about how silly they were for not realizing it and to Hermione's great horror, her best friend had told Nico about how he will have to be careful with her seeing as she is the quiet one.

Hermione looked out at the window and her eyes brighten in joy when she saw the familiar site of Hogwarts in front of them. The castle looked just as beautiful and mystical as she had left. A small part of her felt like she was going back home but a huge part of her was worried about how she will explain her disappearance.

"You know if I didn't know any better I would say that Arianna is doing this to you on purpose." Nico said. The brunette witch raised her eyebrows at him and the black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders at her as a response, not answering the silent question about the suddenness of this topic.

"Most likely she is doing this on purpose." Hermione answered. "I did tell her brother that she had sneaked out of the barracks to see Michael and not with the movies like she had told them."

"You shouldn't have done that!" Arianna said, turning her head to stare at the two teens. She didn't look tired to Hermione's amazement since her best friend had been driving since they had left London.

"Well you shouldn't have lied to your brother about the date." Hermione said stiffly before adding thoughtfully. "And besides weren't you glad that I told him? I mean if you had eventually dated the guy, you would ended up finding out that he was dating two other girls behind your back."

"I will admit that was a good thing, I can't date a guy that would cheat on his girlfriend and for a long time too." Arianna admitted as she looked at the castle in front of them with interest. The castle certainly looked different from what she had imagined, not small but the same size as the castle that she and her mother and stepparent had lived in.

"I know this is a stupid question but why?" Nico asked. Hermione sighed before giving him a slap on the shoulder for the silly question.

"What in Hades was that for?" Nico asked as he rubbed his shoulder. His girlfriend shook her head at him and quietly muttered something about men and idiots. At that moment, she reminded him of a huntress of Artemis, an image that he didn't want to imagine.

"That was for asking Arianna such a stupid question. I don't know why boys ask such silly questions." Hermione said stiffly. Nico shook his head and thought to himself that she was reminding him again of a huntress of Artemis with that talk.

He frowned and imagines Hermione as a huntress before shaking his head at the image. It just didn't seem right to imagine the legacy of Athena and Apollo swearing off all men, the girl was just so loyal to her siblings to do something like that.

The redhead shook her head at them and said, "No he asked a good question, Hermione." She sighed and than answered. "How can I trust a guy who cheated on his ex-girlfriend with someone else? He will say that he won't cheat on me but I can't trust him and besides I just won't trust his words and I want to trust the guy even if he cheated on her just one time."

"That is an interesting point." Nico agreed.

"Thank you." Arianna said.

The brunette witch frowned at her friend's response but didn't say anything instead deciding to look out to the window while her boyfriend and Arianna talked. Her eyes widen in realization when she saw the Whomping Willow was a few feet away from them.

"Arianna…" Hermione said, interrupting Nico and Arianna's conversation about which basketball team was better.

"Yes."

"There is a Whomping Willow in front of us and I don't know about you guys but I don't want to get seriously injured!" Hermione yelled.

Arianna looked at her in confusion and looked at the window. Her eyes widen at the Willow tree in front of her and as quickly as she could, turned the Ferrari car around it. She prayed to her father that the tree won't lay single scratch on this car or that she would die so young.

She thought that they were safe but of course her life was never going to be that easy because she suddenly realized that The Whomping Willow looked ready to attack them and that certainly didn't looked like a good sign.

The Whomping Willow branches started to attack the car but thanks to Arianna's excellent driving skills, they had been able to avoid the attacking branches. But even through they had been able to avoid the branches, it didn't calm the three teens nerves.

After ten minutes of silence, all three teens sighed in relief when the realized that the tree wasn't going to attack them again or that they hadn't damage the tree. They certainly didn't want to cause trouble on the first day that they arrive.

"We are certainly not doing that again." Nico said.

Hermione nodded her head at him and said, "Yeah, I really don't want to see Lord Pluto any time soon."

"And what is wrong with my father?" Nico asked, frowning at her. He glanced at Arianna for some explanation but the amused look on her face told her that he wouldn't get an answer from her. He certainly didn't understand the problem with his father he wasn't a bad person in fact he would even go far to say that he wasn't a bad man as they portray him.

"There is nothing wrong with your father but I really don't want to meet the god when I am…well dead." Hermione explained. "I mean would you want to meet my father when you are going for a dentist appointment and hear him interrogate you?"

"No." Nico agreed. "I would certainly not like that, I would say that would make me feel both awkward and scared."

"Exactly." Hermione said, smiling at him. The black-haired boy rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment for not realizing that earlier before giving her a soft smile that caused her to blush in embarrassment.

"Aw isn't this sweet, you two are ready planning to meet each other parents." Arianna said, battling her eyelashes at them. "Next thing I know you two are going to plan your wedding day and than the names of your kids."

Nico and Hermione blushed at her words and said in unison, "We are too young to think of marriage and we are certainly not planning for any children soon."

"Damn and here I thought that I would call shots on being godmother." Arianna said, snapping her fingers at them. She frowned and then realized that she hadn't parked the car yet but where should she park it? Her eyes scanned the area and she grinned when she saw a huge bush behind one of the greenhouses.

"Why the hell were you having those thoughts, Arianna?" Hermione asked as Arianna hover the car on top of the bushes. Nico raised his eyebrows at the redhead to hear her response.

"Well let me see, first off it took me teasing you for you to stop snogging in the car." Arianna said, raising her first finger at them. "Secondly, I have a feeling that you two will be together for such a long time and lastly, it is fun to tease you guys."

Hermione clenched her hands into a fist when she heard her friend reasoning but her friend was right about the fact that it took her teasing for them to stop what they were doing. But to be fair, Nico was so distracting and he knew it.

The redhead grinned at them before landing the car gently on the ground and than parking it. As soon as the engine was turn off, she told the two teens to get out of the car.

Nico stretched his arms and legs, it felt like ages since he had been outside the car and his fear of becoming like fried egg didn't help him either. He looked at the sky and quietly thanks any deity that had managed to make sure that Zeus didn't fry him.

He looked at Hermione and smiled at the sight of the brunette witch looking at the castle with wonder. The moonlight, Nico realized made her look even more radiant and it was funny, as you would think it was the sunlight that made her even more pretty.

"What are you staring at Nico?" Hermione asked, snapping him from his musing.

He grinned at her before planting a soft kiss on her lips and said to her, "Did I tell you that you look your best under the moonlight?" she shook her head at him in amusement and he frowned. "Well then, I will say it again, you look radiant under the moonlight."

"T-thank you." Hermione stuttered as she looked away from his heated gaze. She had never heard such complements before and to hear one that good just made her feel out of place. Through she wonders if he is playing a joke on her because she had been expecting him to say…

"But you look even better in another outfit." Nico whispered, grinning at her.

She groaned and thought to herself that she shouldn't have expected him to change that much.

"Really? What outfit did you imagine me in?" Hermione asked, grinning at him. If he wanted play this game then she would play the game but she was going to make him wish he didn't say such things to her.

The black-haired boy eyes widen and his face turned red as a tomato but as soon as it was there, it was gone. He grinned at her and quietly whispered the outfit to her ears as soon as he was done, the brunette witch face turned red.

"You truly have a dirty mind don't you!" Hermione said as her face turned even redder as she thought about the outfit that he describe.

"You asked." Nico pointed out. "And besides you got to admit that you like the idea to."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but closed it; she couldn't deny that the outfit idea made her curious. She shook her head and thanks Jupiter that her parents weren't here or that Arianna didn't hear since the redhead would tease her silly because of this.

"Quit your flirting! We still have a job to do and the sooner this job is done, the sooner we get home." Arianna said, snapping the two from their conversation. She grinned at them and added, "You two can have your way with each other later."

The two teens blushed at her words and Arianna took great joy in laughing at their face. She shook her head at her two friends and looked at the castle in front of her with resignation, she may not have went to school here but her mother had.

Arianna wondered what her mother would have been like as a teenager, nothing like her she suppose. Her mother had always hated the pranks that she did, telling her that she reminded her too much of the father that she rarely sees. Her mother had always told her that she might look like her in all appearance; her personality was a mixture of both her and father.

Cassandra Blake never got over her father that much Arianna knew for sure about her mother. So many times she would hear how her mother would say such kind things about her father and how handsome he was, but she never understood why her mother married her step-father if she loved her father and till this day she still didn't understand.

She didn't understand why the two of them married when it was obvious that her mother did not love him the same way as her father. It is because of duty that she married your stepfather those were the words of her grandparents before they had died. But was duty worth it? Her mother and stepfather had deserved to marry people they love.

Arianna clenched her hands into a fist and thought to herself that the Wizardly World was just messed up. It was their fault that her mother had been unhappy in her marriage and it was their fault that things were messed up as it was now.

"Arianna, are you okay?" Hermione asked. Arianna turned round and gave her best friend a fake smile but to her displeasure, the brunette witch saw right through it. She waited for Hermione to question her but the only thing she saw understood in her eyes.

"I will be fine." Arianna answered softly. "Let us just go meet the Headmaster and get this over and done with."

Nico looked at the redhead with worry and glanced at Hermione for an explanation but the brunette girl shook her head at him. He sighed and wondered what was wrong with Arianna. He had never seen her act this way and it was frightening him.

"I want to explain Nico but I can't tell you because it would be…" Hermione said, trying her best to assure the black-haired teen.

Nico waved his hand dismissively and said, "I understand, it would be betraying her trust right?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "No matter how easy going and mischievous she is Arianna doesn't trust people easily. For as long as I have known her Arianna had put walls around herself, it even took me a while to get through her."

"I know Hermione but still, we are working together and there shouldn't be any secrets between us." Nico said. Hermione sighed at his words but didn't disagree telling him that she agreed with his words.

"You are right but Arianna has the right to tell you about this." Hermione said. "If I tell you than we will loose her trust and I would rather fight against a monster than break her trust."

"That bad." Nico said.

Hermione nodded at him and started to follow Arianna, who had finally decided that it was time for them to get a move on. He sighed and started to follow the two girls and wondered for the fifth time in his life whether he knew what he had signed up for by agreeing to take this quest.

They walked towards the entrance of the big castle and all three of them knew that the moment that they are inside the castle, there was no going back. Nico gulped at the sight of the towering castle in front of them and he looked at Hermione, who simply raised her eyebrows at him.

"You got to be kidding me, Nico." Hermione whispered in his ear. "You can't be scared of this castle."

"I am not scared." Nico denied. "The castle seems to be a little bit big to my taste and besides how do you know that they won't turn me into a frog?"

"Have I ever turned you into a frog?" Hermione asked.

The black-haired boy shook his head and said dryly, "But you like me so that is different."

"Oh really now? For all you know I might have decided that I don't like you anymore." Hermione said thoughtfully. "I mean you did at one point insulted my cohort when you said we fight like girls."

"You are still holding that against me!" Nico cried.

"Maybe I am, maybe I am not." Hermione said as she shrugged her shoulders at him before giving him a smirk. She turned around and started to help Arianna with pushing the door opened.

Nico gawked at the two girls and wondered whether Hermione was seriously joking about holding it against him. He honestly didn't like the idea of her being pissed with him about that one little comment about her cohort. Through the boys in her cohort was acting like a bunch of girls if you asked his opinion.

"So Hermione where is the Headmaster's office?" Arianna asked. The brunette witch turned around and looked at her best friend in surprise and opened her mouth to answer the question when they heard footsteps and saw glimpses of light.

The three teens immediately hide. Hermione and Nico hid behind two knight's armor while Arianna had decided to hide behind the curtains. They held their breath and watched as the footsteps became even more louder. Nico and Hermione looked at each other with worry.

To Hermione's horror, it was Professor Snape and he was looking at the corridor with suspicion. She held her breath and prayed to her grandparents that he won't discover them hiding. The brunette witch glanced at Arianna and to her horror; the witch was pointing her wand at one of the knights far away from them.

The redhead grinned at her and cast a spell at the knight, which had caused the knight to start moving around. Hermione cursed under her breath for her friend's recklessness but to her surprise, Snape had immediate ran to see the commotion.

As soon as Snape was away from them, Hermione pulled Nico from his hiding place and started to run, not once letting go of his hand. Arianna followed their league and started to run as far away as she could from that corridor.

"That was a close one." Hermione whispered.

Arianna and Nico nodded in agreement and the three of them started to walk towards the second floor, where the Headmaster's office was. There was no more any incidents with the teacher except they had met the Peeves but Nico had been able to control it by simply commanding it not to mention that they were here or else he will send him to his father.

They finally reach the entrance of the Headmaster's office and to Nico's surprise; it was actually behind an ugly stone gargoyle. He glanced at Arianna and Hermione, both of whom looked at it with weariness. Honestly he didn't understand why they were giving such looks

"We would like to talk to the Headmaster." Arianna said.

"Password?" The Gargoyle asked.

Hermione frowned and answered, "Acid Pops?"

The Gargoyle didn't moved while Arianna looked at her with disbelief. "Why the hell are you saying sweets?" she asked.

"His passwords had always been sweets." Hermione answered.

"Cockroach cluster?" Arianna asked the gargoyle.

"Fizzing Whizbee." Hermione said.

It still didn't move and so the two girls kept telling all the sweets that they knew both magical and muggle but none didn't work. It also didn't help that the gargoyle was looking at them in amusement.

Nico frowned and finally said. "Lemon drop."

The gargoyle jumped from his spot and the two girls looked at him in shock before asking him, "What made you say Lemon drop?"

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders at them and answered, "Because Sherbet lemon is a nice sweet and I know a lot of old men that liked these sweets."

Hermione and Arianna looked at each other in disbelief at his words before shrugging their shoulders. The three of them looked at each other before walking up the stairs to meet the Headmaster.

The Headmaster's office was very interesting if you ask Nico. It contains so many portraits and he realized that one of the portraits was snoring. He gasped in shock and looked at the two girls to see if that was normal and from the calmness of this fact.

"Do all portraits move?" Nico asked.

Hermione nodded her head at him and answered, "All wizardly portraits move, I was the shock the first time as well."

Nico nodded his head at her and started to look around the room. He saw a very old and dirty looking wizard hat resting on a self and he swears that the hat seemed to have a mouth but that must have been his imagination. He shook his head at his thoughts before walking towards a beautiful looking bird.

The bird had such beautiful crimson feathers and its golden tail was so long that it reminded him of a peacock's. But that wasn't the odd thing about the bird. It was its claws and beak that was strange, they gleamed gold while its eyes were black.

Nico glanced at Hermione and was glad to see that he wasn't the only one affected by the bird's beauty. He was certain that this bird was truly a magical creature because he had never seen such a beautiful bird.

"Is that a phoenix?" Arianna asked as she walked towards the beautiful-looking phoenix. Hesitantly, she started to stoke the phoenix beautiful feathers and to her surprise, it didn't attack her.

"It seems like Fawkes likes you." A voice spoke from behind them.

All three of them turned around and they were surprised to see Professor Dumbledore smiling kindly at them.

Nico stared at he old man in front of them and take in his appearance. He was tall and thin and had long sliver hair and bread so long that it was tucked into his belt. His nose was crooked and it must have broken more than twice but what truly got to him was the fact that his eyes were twinkling with kindness and wore half-moon spectacles and he wore crimson red robes.

"H-hello Professor Dumbledore." Hermione stuttered.

Nico raised his eyebrows at her and said, "And I thought I was the only one that is able to make you stutter."

The brunette witch flushed deep red and said through gritted teeth, "Now is not the time Di Angelo."

"Really?" Nico asked. "You didn't say that a few hours ago."

The redhead groaned at the two teens and yelled impatiently, "Can the two of you just shut up! The two of you can have your lovers spat after we talk to Professor Dumbledore!"

The two teens apologized before looking at Professor Dumbledore, who was giving them a thoughtful look. Nico felt completely uncomfortable with the way that the old man was looking at them. He sighed in relief when the old man turned to look at Hermione.

"Ms. Granger, where have you been for the past couple of weeks? Many of the students and staff had thought you had been kidnapped." Professor Dumbledore asked. He didn't look at her with anger but with concern causing Hermione to feel guilty for not writing a letter to explain her disappearance.

"I hadn't been kidnapped Professor Dumbledore, actually I went back home to my family." Hermione admitted.

"And how did this happen? And why did you leave?" Professor Dumbledore asked. He looked at the two teens beside his student and noticed that one of them looked remarkably like one of his ex-students while the other looked similar to how Tom Riddle looked like when he was a teenage boy.

"It is a long story, Professor Dumbledore." Hermione answered weakly. "All of which involved Harry, Ronald and Ginevra."

"You seriously are pissed at the three of them." Nico answered as he took a seat in front of the Headmaster's desk. "I don't blame you, I would have probably gotten revenge on what they have done if it was me."

"And who might you two be?" Professor Dumbledore asked. He had forgotten that there were two other people in the room as he had been too focused on Hermione, who had been missing for the past few weeks.

"Arianna Blake, sir." Arianna said, smiling uncomfortably at the old man. His eyes widen in recognition of her last name, which caused her to curse silently, after all these years her last name is still well known.

"And you, my dear boy?" Professor Dumbledore asked, smiling kindly at the black-haired teen in front of him.

"None of your business." Nico answered.

Hermione eyes twitch at his words and before the son of Hades knew it, the brunette witch stomped her foot on his feet. He cried out in pain and glared at her but to his disappointment, she wasn't scared of the glare.

"That glare of yours might work on the others but it doesn't work on me." Hermione said dryly. "Now tell Professor Dumbledore your name or I will tell everyone in the camp about the incident with the nun."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me."

Professor Dumbledore looked at the bickering two teens in front of him with amusement and he glanced at the redhead, who chuckled at them. The redhead gave him a stiff look before sighing.

"Sir, my friends and I will need your help." Arianna said, causing the two teens to stop bickering. Hermione looked at Professor Dumbledore and nodded her head in agreement with her friend while the black-haired boy reluctantly nodded his head.

"Yes, sir. It is about Lord Voldemort." Hermione added.

"Lord Voldemort?" Professor Dumbledore asked, raising his eyebrows at the three teens in front of them.

"The bastard is going to come back." Nico said, gritting his teeth at them. "He had done a sick thing to make sure that he stays alive. And when I get my hands on him, I am going to run my sword through his heart everything time."

"Di Angelo that isn't your job!" Hermione reminded him.

"Well, I wish it was." Nico grumbled. "Anyone that cheats on death should be getting that punishment."

Professor Dumbledore frowned at the three teens and said in suspicion, "You know a lot about Lord Voldemort for someone so young."

Nico opened his mouth to tell him that he knew a lot of things about that horrible man but was stopped by Hermione, who gave him a glare. He closed his mouth and Arianna grinned at him before mouthing to him that he was whipped. He frowned and shook his head in denial because he was not whipped.

"Sir, please sit down because the story we are going to tell you is a long one." Hermione said to him.

Arianna rolled her eyes and said, "That is an understatement. To this day, I can't understand the concept."

Professor Dumbledore frowned at them but none of less did as Hermione said and took a seat in his chair. Hermione took a breath and started to tell him about the Greek and Roman gods and about the west as well about how monsters can't really die.

Nico took over and started to explain to the old man about the Greek Gods and the trouble demigods had always been in. Not once did the old man thought that he was crazy in fact he nodded his head thoughtfully at him. He then went on to explain about the wars that had happened and even admitted that World War 1 and 2 had been the caused of his siblings.

"And you are the child of…"

"I am a child of Hades, sir." Nico answered, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as Professor Dumbledore gave him a knowing look. "Most children and legacies of my father had often been regarded as evil and insane. I am afraid to end up like them." He admitted.

"You are not going to end up like them!" Hermione said softly.

"Now I am not but what about in the future? I really don't want to end up like them and I am not a really nice or good person you know." Nico said.

"You admitted the fact that you aren't. Not many people would admit that and yet you are and besides I have seen some acts of kindness from you." Hermione said.

"Really?" Nico asked in disbelief.

Arianna shook her head at them and said to them, "Can you two get back to explaining."

Hermione and Nico nodded their heads at her and he returned to explaining about the ways of the Greek and the famous people that they produced. He then explained that some children of the gods had special abilities and than told him that Greeks and Romans don't get along.

That was when Arianna took over the explanation and started to explain to him about the Roman Gods. She explained how the Romans defeated the Greek and made the Greek Gods more Roman like and how once they had been defeated; Jupiter had ordered them to build a camp for both demigods and legacies. She then explained about legacies, who are the children or grandchildren of demigods, which lead her to talk about Lord Voldemort.

"Sir, Tom Riddle was also a legacy of Pluto." Arianna said.

Professor Dumbledore nodded his head and turned to Nico, who looked pissed at the reminder that he was technically related to the bastard. He scowled at him and wished for the second time in his life that he was not a son of Hades, why couldn't be Percy's brother? In seconds thoughts being a son of Hades is better.

"And Lord Hades does not like what Tom is doing?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"No." Nico answered firmly. "He wants to see him dead just as much as any sane witch and wizard. The bastard had already given him too much headache to deal with."

"It is ironic isn't it?" Hermione asked to Nico.

"Do not remind me." Nico said, scowling at her. She had to remind him that not only was he related to that bastard but also that same bastard was a mockery of a child and legacy of Hades, no child or legacy of Hades should be afraid of death.

"You got to admit it is kind of funny, Di Angelo." Arianna said, smiling at him. His scowl deepened and Professor Dumbledore looked at the three teens in front of him with interest.

"Mind letting this old man in on the joke?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"It is funny to see a legacy of Pluto being afraid of death." Hermione explained to Professor Dumbledore. "As far as we have seen with Hazel and Nico, those two do not fear death."

"How can we? Death is natural and besides our father is the God of Death." Nico pointed out.

"Now, Ms. Blake mind telling me why do you need my help for?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Arianna bit her lips at his question. She glanced at Hermione, who simply gestured for her to explain to the old man about their job. Why her? Hermione had always been good at these types of things, she may be good at her studies and sports but wasn't good at explaining, no that job was for Hermione.

"Well sir, we kind of need to borrow the Gryffindor's sword and we need to do research and Hogwarts here has the biggest library in England as well as being one the oldest in the world." Arianna explained.

"And what are you planning to do with the sword, Ms. Blake?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

The three teens looked at each other and silently debated on whether to tell the old man about what they were going to do with it. Nico was completely against it while Hermione and Arianna were in somewhere in between. With a silent nod from Hermione and reluctant nod from Nico, Arianna told the old man about their plan for it.

The redhead had been careful in telling the old man that they had been planning to use it for a Horcrux as they knew there were some things that while may be important to know was dangerous however she had given him clues. Arianna had a feeling that the old man already knew what they were planning to do from the knowing look in his eyes.

He was very quiet after she had completed explaining to him about their plans and it worried Arianna. She didn't know what was going through his head and she was afraid that he would reject the idea of them staying in the castle to do research. If they couldn't do research here then where can they do research? The only place filled with so much knowledge of the wizardly world was her home, the Blacks' house and those slimly Malfoys but she doubt that they would allow them to do research on a way to defeat the dark lord.

"Very well, you and Mr. Di Angelo shall be students of Hogwarts while you do this research." Professor Dumbledore said nodding his head thoughtfully at the three.

"Um sir, do you think it is a wise idea?" Nico asked, looking at the old man as if he was insane which in Nico's mind he was. "Because I do not possess any magical abilities what so ever."

"You have gifts do you not?" Professor Dumbledore pointed out.

"Yes sir but still… I have no magical training what so ever." Nico said. "And besides are you sure that will be a good idea?"

"It is better you be a student than a teacher." Hermione said. "I can still remember how the news kids are always so scared when they first met you."

"They woke me up." Nico pointed out.

"Everyone knows not to wake him up from his nap." Arianna reminded her. "It is only the newbies who doesn't know or the stupid kids."

"Anyways, Nico you can see Hogwarts that means you have some magical abilities in you." Hermione explained. "Hogwarts is unplottable, you should have seen a danger sign however you haven't. It means you have some magic blood in you."

"But still, do I have to be a student?" Nico complained.

The brunette witch's eyes twitched at his words and before he knew it, she had pulled him down till he was in eyelevel with her. He gulped when he saw the angry look in his eyes, he will only admit this to himself but Hermione can be truly frightening when she wants to be.

"Do you want to be a teacher? Because Nico you would need to be at times sitting in the desk and concentrating on the work in front of you." Hermione hissed. Nico winced at the idea of marking work and the brunette witch smirked before continuing. "It would also mean that you can't date a student and I am sure that you don't want that do you?"

Nico sighed and admitted, "No but honestly, how am I going to keep up with the work load?"

"I will help you." Hermione answered as she loosens her grip on his shirt. "I just don't think many of the students would take you seriously because of how old you look."

As the two teens talked, Professor Dumbledore gave Arianna a curious look and asked her, "Are the two of them always like this?"

"You mean arguing and fighting?" Arianna asked. The old man nodded at her and the redhead reluctantly nodded her head at him. "Yes, for as long as I have known these two they had been like this but they understand each other better than a long-timed couple."

"I can tell." Professor Dumbledore said. "They remind me of another couple that I used to know."

"I see." Arianna said, pursing her lips at him. "Anyways, the two of them being together also means that it is another sign of the Greeks and Romans coming together."

"It will be more interesting if he was a Slytherin." Professor Dumbledore muttered. "It would truly mean the school uniting together."

"Alright, Professor Dumbledore, I will be a student in Hogwarts." Nico said to the old man. Hermione grinned at him and he gave her a small smile as a response to the smile that he had given her.

"We shall be sorting you and Ms. Blake tomorrow morning in front of the whole school as it is very late now for me to sort you." Professor Dumbledore said. "And Ms. Granger, I would advise that you go to the Gryffindor's common room and go to bed, it is fortunate that your trunk is still there."

"Right sir." Hermione said giving him a small bow before leaving Arianna and Nico in the room but not before she give the black-haired boy a quick kiss on the lips and Arianna a small hug.

Nico and Arianna glanced at each other and wondered what they had done wrong for them to be sorted in front of the whole school. Those were their thoughts as Professor Dumbledore led them towards their temporary rooms for the night.

* * *

When Lavender and Parvati woke up the next day, they heard the sounds of the shower being used. They glanced at each other in confusion; both of them knew that they were the only girls in the fourth year dorm. They looked at the room for any signs that another girl was here and their eyes widen when they saw that Hermione's bed had been used and her trunk was opened.

"Do you think she is back?" Lavender asked.

Parvati nodded her head at her dorm mate and answered, "Yes, it would explain why her bed is messy and her trunk is opened but we didn't hear her come in."

"Who cares about that." Lavender hissed. "I want to know where she had been for the past few weeks. We know that she had been gone but we didn't know what happened to her or how she left."

It was in that moment Hermione came out of the showers, her usual curly hair was now wet and she was currently wearing her Hogwarts uniform. She looked the same as ever but something was different about her. They looked at her carefully and realized that she was wearing some kind of bracelet that had an owl and a lyre dangling on the band.

"Do I look strange?" Hermione asked the gawking girls.

Lavender and Parvati snapped out of their shocked and quickly started to ask the brunette witch so many questions. Where had she been for the past few weeks? How did she left? What she had been doing? Why did she leave? And the final question from Lavender was where did the brunette witch get the bracelet?

"Sorry guys but I had a family emergency." Hermione explained. "So I had to go to America with my parents for that, I meant to tell the teachers but I got side-tracked with all the work we had."

"But how you leave? And why didn't we hear you enter?" Parvati asked.

"Professor Dumbledore had allowed me to use the train to go back home and for why you didn't hear me enter is because the two of you snore so loudly that it would have been hard for you guys to hear me." Hermione answered.

"We don't snore!" They yelled.

"But where did you get the bracelet? It looks so pretty." Lavender commented. The bracelet seemed to be made out of gold and was woven together so delicately and beautifully that it was hard to believed that such a thing existed.

"A gift from my grandmother." Hermione admitted. "I don't wear it lot but it was a present from her for my eleventh birthday."

"Damn, I wish my grandmother had such good taste." Lavender complained. Hermione laughed uneasily which went unnoticed by the two girls, who were now too busy complaining about the fact that they never gotten something as pretty as that.

After half-an-hour of answering their questions, they were told by Professor McGonagall to go downstairs to eat breakfast and to hear Professor Dumbledore's announcement. Lavender and Parvati wondered what she was talking about while Hermione smiled uneasily.

To Lavender and Parvati's surprise, the whole school was now sitting in their places including the teachers, some of whom looked like they had just gotten out of bed. They glanced at each other and wondered what was going to happen while Hermione looked around as if she was in search for something.

Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore and wondered why he had called the whole school this morning. He looked at Ron and Ginny before scowling at them, he hadn't been getting along with them since he heard what happened to Hermione. He frowned and silently wished that he could talk to Hermione.

"I am glad that all of you are now awake. First off, I would like to announce that Ms. Granger has come back from her family emergency in America so I would like to say welcome back." Professor Dumbledore said smiling at them.

Everyone started to whisper at this announcement and they all sighed in relief all except for Harry, Ron, Ginny and the Slytherins. Ron and Ginny because of the fact that Hermione was back while for Harry because it was just suspicious, he had a feeling that Hermione didn't have a family emergency but he was happy to see that she was back. Now how was he going to make amends to her?

"I would also like to announced that we have two new transfer students from America. Nico Di Angelo would be in sixth year while Arianna Blake would be in fourth year." Professor Dumbledore said as he gestured for two students to come stand in front of them.

Harry looked at the two students in curiosity but the only one that truly interests him was the redhead girl beside the black-haired boy. She was incredibly pretty that much was certain about her. She had long red hair that was not straight but curly but not a bad way and pretty blue eyes that seemed to be now sparking with mischief but it also had an undertone in sadness and bitterness as if she would rather be somewhere else than here but something told him that she might be able to help him with his problem with Hermione. She had a willowy body and her ears reminded him of an elf but her lips were full and plump and she wore no make-up that he could tell. Her face however reminded him of those Roman goddess statues that they have but that was how pretty she was.

"Harry, what are you staring at!" Ginny hissed.

Harry shook his head at her and answered, "It is nothing."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything. He sighed in relief and waited for Professor Dumbledore to call out the two students names.

"Di Angelo, Nico." Professor Dumbledore called out.

The black-haired boy took a seat on the stool and if Harry's eyes weren't deceiving him but he looked reluctant to wear. Everyone waited for the sorting hat to call out the boy's house but it was taking so long that he wondered if the boy wouldn't be able to be sorted.

"Slytherin!" The sorting house finally called out.

The whole of Slytherin house started to clap wildly at this announcement and Harry could see that the boy seemed to be frowning at them but as soon as the frown was there, it was gone making him wonder if he had truly seen it.

Nico took the hat and took a seat with Adrian Pucey, who had immediately shook hands with the boy and welcome the boy to Slytherin. Harry looked at the redhead girl, who scanned the room and for a moment, the two of them locked eyes at each other and he almost swears that the girl had given a small smirk before walking towards the stool.

"Blake, Arianna." Professor Dumbledore said as Arianna put the hat on her head.

It barely touched her head when it yelled out, "Gryffindor."

The redhead took off the hat and immediately took a seat beside Hermione but as she passed him by, the redhead had gave him a disappointed frown before taking her seat beside Hermione. It was almost like she knew what he had done to Hermione but that was impossible because no one else knew beside the school.

Still as Harry watched the redhead talked to Hermione and the other fourth year girls, he couldn't help but feel that they had something in common. The question was what? Well it didn't matter, he had to concentrate in finding ways to amend to Hermione for what he had done.

* * *

**Author note: What do you think of this chapter? I also forgot to ask all of you earlier on what you thought of Arianna and her personality. I hope you don't think she is a Mary sue.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic.**

**Author Note: I want to thank everyone that had reviewed the last chapter and had added this as their favorite story and story alerts. I also hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

**Pairing: Hermione/Nico, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Oc, mentions of Oc/Oc, Hermione/oc.**

* * *

Arianna stifled the yawn that threatened to come out as she listened to Professor McGonagall's lecture on transfiguring a teacup into an animal. Was this the level that Hogwarts expect a fourth year to do? She had done these types of spells last year.

Finally after another ten minutes of her boring long lecture, the whole class was told to come up and get their teacups. As they lined up to get their teacups, Arianna wondered for the second time today why her best friend didn't allow her to skip.

"Hermione, remind me again why didn't you allow me to skip class?" Arianna asked her best friend as they each get a teacup.

"Because you ready do that with your mentor in camp." Hermione said dryly. "I can still remember him going to me to talk some sense into you."

The two girls looked at each other and than laughed at the idea of Hermione being able to talk some sense into her. Both of them knew that the chances of her listening to Hermione when it came to going to her mentor classes were basically zero.

"It isn't my fault that he made his lectures so boring." Arianna said as her eyes twinkle in mirth before continuing, "Plus it was so funny to see him trying his hardest to find me! He always forget the fact that he can do magic to find me."

"I can't deny that it is funny." Hermione admitted.

The redhead opened her mouth to tell her friend more of the reason why she always wanted to skip class when she accidently bumped into a boy. She fell down to the ground and right on top of the boy too.

Hermione slapped her forehead at this sight and thought to herself that only Arianna could get herself into these types of situation. The same thing happened to her last year and it was with her cousin Octavian, who had scolded the redhead for not being alert.

"A-are you alright?" Arianna said as she got off the boy. She offered her hand to him and quietly muttered under her breath about being more aware.

The boy looked up to her and Arianna realized that the boy was Harry Potter, the same boy that had hurt her friend. She looked at the boy carefully and noticed that the boy had untidy jet-black hair and had beautiful green eyes that were shaped as almond but what stood out was the scar on his face.

"I-I am fine." Harry stuttered as he took Arianna's offering hand.

The redhead cussed under her breath as she looked at the boy's green eyes. Damn it! Did the boy had to have green eyes? It was like Venus was mocking her because everyone in camp knew that she had weakness for boy with green eyes and his eyes were a beautiful shade of green. Still she will never like the boy in that way, not after what he did to Hermione.

"Sorry about that." Arianna said. "I should have seen where I was going."

Harry nodded his head at her and for a moment, his eyes glaze at Hermione who gave him a stiff look. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it and Arianna was glad that he chose the right decision because her friend wasn't ready to talk to him.

The redhead looked at Harry with analyzing eyes as she gestured for Hermione to leave. Her best friend gave her a hesitant look before nodding her head at her, knowing that whatever she was about to say was not something she should hear.

"Potter I need to talk to you after class." Arianna said as she pulled him up.

Harry looked at the redhead girl in front of him before nodding his head hesitantly at her. She gave him a small weary smile before going to get her teacup.

The redhead girl hadn't looked at him with angry or hate like everyone else despite knowing the rumors that she had heard from the others. Harry watched as she twirled her wand and turned the teacup into a small puppy. He shook his head and concentrated on his teacup, knowing that he shouldn't be distracted by her.

Meanwhile in the other side of the room, Hermione had caught Harry glancing at Arianna and had not missed the daze look in his eyes. She couldn't help but find it funny that he liked her in fact, she wasn't even that surprise. She had a feeling that if she had introduce the two earlier that the two of them would have hit off immediately.

"It seems like Harry likes you." Hermione commented dryly after Professor McGonagall finished praising the two of them for mastering the spell on the first try.

Arianna blinked her eyes in surprise at her best-friend's words before frowning at her. She pursed her lips at the words before sparing a glance at Harry, who was concentrating on his teacup, before shaking her head at her best friend.

"You got to be kidding me, Hermione." Arianna whispered. "He doesn't like me, we just met and besides I can't like him after what he had done to you. I mean you are still pissed off at what he did to you."

The brunette witch sighed at her best-friend's words and admitted, "I am not angry with Harry, disappointed in him yes but not angry."

"You are not angry!"

"No." Hermione said, shaking her head at her best friend. "At the beginning, yes I was angry but now when I looked at him now, I see how much he regrets for what he did to me unlike Ronald and Ginerva."

"I still think you should be angry with him." Arianna muttered. "If I were you, I would be pissed off after all the things that he said about me."

"And that is where you and I are different." Hermione commented dryly. "Your fatal law is not only loyalty but holding grudges, just like Nico."

"My fatal flaw is not holding grudges!" Arianna whispered indigently as she reluctantly turned the little puppy back into a teacup.

"If I remember correctly, you are still angry at Orion and Michelle." Hermione said. "Even through it had been two years since the incident!"

"My sister knew that I liked him first!" Arianna snapped. "And she knew that I nearly had him too but no! She just had to steal him away from me!"

"Arianna, he was three years older than you." Hermione said dryly. "I think it was only natural for a fifteen year old boy to like a girl closer to his age."

"But still!"

"At least you got your revenge didn't you?"

The redhead girl grinned at the memory of Orion finding diary entries from her sister; those entries had described him to be ugly and other such nasty things. To this day, her sister believed that she had a hand in of her ex-boyfriend finding out all those nastiest things she called him.

"Good times."

"And you did get a date with him didn't you?" Hermione asked, giving her a pointed look.

"Nope."

"What? But you told Michelle that you…"

"I lied." Arianna said grinning evilly at her. "I mean just showing him what she thought of him wasn't just enough, I had to make her admit it in front of everyone!"

The brunette witch chuckled and the two girls suddenly realized that Professor McGonagall was standing in front of them, looking quite angry with them as well. Arianna sighed and realized that there goes any chance of her being a teacher pet.

* * *

Harry waited till everyone had left the classroom to go and get lunch before walking towards Arianna, who had nodded at a reluctant Hermione to go away. As he passed Hermione, he stopped and opened his mouth but closed when he realized that he didn't know what to say that will make her forgive him.

Arianna looked at him in amusement and disappointment and he wondered if he knew what he had been thinking. She sighed at him and gestured for him to take a seat beside her.

"For someone so famous you sure act like an idiot." Arianna said, leaning against her seat.

"I am not an idiot!" Harry said indigently.

"To me, you are." Arianna said, smiling wearily at him. "You are also an asshole, who doesn't know what a good thing they have until its gone."

"Why do you want to talk to me? You already seemed to base your opinion on me!" Harry said, narrowing his eyes at her.

The redhead chuckle at him and answered bitterly, "I base my opinion on the fact that you betrayed my best friend!"

"Best-friend?" Harry asked. "I don't know who your best-friend is!"

The blue-eyed girl gave him a calculating look, which caused Harry to feel uncomfortable. She could be really intimidating when she wants to be that much was certain; those eyes of hers were just so piercing.

"I have known Hermione since I was six." Arianna sighed, "and for as long as I have known her, she had not once wanted to stay at home but after what you did to her, she just…"

Harry gave her a guilty look and Arianna could see just how much he regretted saying those awful things towards Hermione. There goes her idea of him being an asshole gone, a boy that looks that guilty can't be that bad. Through some of the things he had said to Hermione were things she could never forgive.

"I really didn't mean to say those things about her." Harry admitted. "I just…I just didn't want to loose Ron or the Weasley family…they act more like a family to me then my own relatives but I doubt that you would understand."

Arianna looked up at the roof and started to remember the first time that she had considered Hermione's family her family.

_(Flashback)_

_ Hermione, who had a huge smile on her face, was currently dragging a seven-year-old Arianna to her home. The redhead scowled at her best friend and tried to get her hand out of her best-friend's arm but couldn't as the older girl had a firm grip on her hand._

"_Why are you insisting that I go with you to your home?" Arianna asked. "Sure it is our day off but surely you want to spend time with your family by yourself!"_

_The brunette girl stopped walking and gave her best friend a huge smile before answering, "But Ari, there are not only my family they are also your family!"_

"_What do you mean?" Arianna asked. The brunette haired girl didn't answer instead she had decided to continue dragging her inside the house, where her mother was waiting for her._

"_Hermione! Arianna! It is so good to see the two of you here!" Aurelia cried, giving the two girls hugs. Hermione immediately returned the hug but the little redhead girl stiffen, unsure as to whether or not she should give the hug. The last time she had been hugged was by her mother and that had been over a year ago._

"_Arianna are you okay?" Aurelia asked, looking at the redhead girl in worry. _

"_I-I am fine." Arianna stuttered._

_The blond-haired woman looked at her in concern and said, "You sure? Because I don't mind making you some chicken soup!" she gave her a small smile and whispered. "And besides I got some new clothes for you to try on!"_

_Arianna looked at her in shock and said, "But I am not your child, why would give me new clothes?"_

"_Just because you are not my biological child doesn't mean I don't think of you as my child." Aurelia said as she gestured for her to come in. _

_It was in that moment that Arianna realized that even through Aurelia wasn't her real mother; she was still a mother to her._

_(End of Flashback)_

"No, I kind of understand." Arianna finally said. She shook her head at him and gave him a hard look before continuing, "But even if Hermione talks bad about someone, through that rarely happens, I wouldn't say anything bad and if it someone close to me, I will defend them."

Harry was taken back by the determination in her eyes as well as how she gave him a soft look when she said in the beginning that she kind of understand. He had a closer look on her face and noticed that she had a very pretty necklace around her neck.

"Potter I know that I look hot but that doesn't mean you can look at my assets." Arianna said. Harry looked at her face and turned deep red which caused the redhead girl to giggle at him, resulting at him to turn a deeper shade of red.

"I didn't mean-"

"I know." Arianna said, chuckling at him. "Hermione told me that you had a girlfriend so I doubt that you would have been looking."

Harry sighed and asked, "Why are you talking to me? If you are Hermione's best friend then why would you talk to someone who had hurt her?"

The redhead stopped smiling and it was replaced with a somber look. Harry found it unusually to see her looking at him with that expression because of the little time that he knew her, he had found that she looked her best when she was smiling.

"Hermione said you reminded her of a close acquaintance of ours." Arianna admitted as she leaned against her seat. "And I for one to see if there was any resemblance between you and this acquaintance."

"And do I remind you of this acquaintance?" Harry asked.

The redhead chuckled and answered cheerfully, "In the past five minutes that we have been talking, I can see that the two of you act so similar yet so different but in a good way!"

"Will Hermione ever forgive me for what I did to her?" Harry suddenly asked. "I mean you are her best friend so you would know if she would forgive me or not right?"

Arianna blinked her eyes at him and slowly said, "You do realize that you have to first apologized to her right? Because I doubt that she can forgive you if she didn't hear an apology from her. "

"I know that but I can't!"

"You can't or you won't?"

"I can't!"

"And why not?"

"Well because I don't know how to." Harry admitted. "I mean how do I apologize to her? I acted like a huge part and…"

The redhead shook her head at him before laughing. For several minutes, Harry watched as the pretty redhead laughed at him and he wondered why she found it so funny to hear these words from him.

"Are you done laughing!" Harry said.

"Yes," Arianna said, grinning at him. "The best way for you to say sorry to Hermione is to say what you said to me about being part and giving her a good book can also help. Goodness knows how many times her cousin says awful things about her and he always gave her a book as an apology! Hermione can't hold a grudge forever especially when it comes to her closest of friends and from what I heard that would be you."

Harry looked at her in surprise and Arianna can see that her words truly shocked him to the core. She found her lips curling into a smile when she saw the beaming look on his face; he wasn't that bad, Arianna decided as the two of them made their way to the Great Hall. No her opinion about him now was that he was just simply a lost boy.

* * *

Hermione didn't know how she found herself in a closet with Nico but she had a suspicion that the black-haired boy had pulled her in there. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows at him in which he gave her an apologetic look.

"Why the hell did you put me in the closet with you?" Hermione asked. "Because I am not in the mood to snog you."

"Why not?" Nico complained.

"Di Angelo, you know why not!" Hermione whispered to his ear. He gave a wolfish grin to her before giving her a bruising kiss on the lips and the brunette witch immediately open her mouth for him, which he immediately took advantage by putting his tongue into her mouth and massaging her tongue.

Hermione bit back the moan that was threatening to come out as Nico immediately brought her closer to him. Damn him! He knew how to mess with her! They haven't been dating a week and already he was making her feel such things.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to continue snogging you?" Nico panted as they came out for breath. The brunette witch blushed as she realized where the older boy's hands were and gently put his hands on her hips.

"You know that we can barely control our urges!" Hermione said as she gave him a peck on the lips. "And besides I don't want to get caught by the teachers!"

Nico groaned at her words before giving her another kiss but this time it was gentle. Hermione sighed at the kiss and wished that they weren't in school because she was really happy to continue doing what they were doing.

"You know that it is hard to resist you when you are in the school uniform!" Nico complained as he kissed her neck. Hermione rolled her eyes at his complaining and bit her lips to hold back her desire to talk when the black-haired boy started to suck a certain pleasurable part in her neck.

"Nico, we really should get out of the closet or else I have no doubt that we are going to do something that we both will regret!" Hermione panted as she opened the closet door.

Nico reluctantly nodded his head in agreement with her and watched as Hermione straighten her clothes before getting out of the closet. He chuckled when he saw the brunette witch looked at his messy shirt.

Hermione blushed and reminded the boy that they needed to go to the library to do some research and she put an extra emphasis on research. He pouted at her and the brunette witch couldn't help but giggle at his behavior.

"So how was class?" Hermione asked as they walked towards the library. Nico arched his eyebrows as he heard some of the students muttering about the world must be ending because a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were walking together and not arguing.

"I had Potions and Arithmancy." Nico answered. "Both classes were good, through I got to admit that I like Arithmancy more."

Hermione grinned at him and Nico shook his head at his thoughts of the brunette's witch smile. He couldn't deny the fact that he was smitten with her but to be honest he had liked her for the past couple of years even through he hadn't realized it.

"Made any friends with the Slytherins?" Hermione asked as they entered the library. The two of them immediately took a seat in the far corner, both of them knowing that they needed peace and quiet as they did their research.

"A few," Nico admitted. "Adrian Pucey, Theodore Nott and Terence Higgs, those three don't seem like bad people. The other Slytherins well they just a bunch of…"

"Arrogant assholes!" Hermione supplied helpfully.

Nico rolled his eyes at her and answered reluctantly, "Yes, that and the girls just scared the crap out of me." He shuddered as he remembered how the girl Pansy cornered him and asked him if he wanted to make out with her. It took all his power not to summon a ghost to haunt him.

"Poor Nico." Hermione said, giving him a fake sympathetic look. "If it makes you feel better I think Arianna here is developing a crush on Harry."

"Harry as in the same Harry who hurt you!" Nico whispered in anger as Hermione nodded her head at him. "You got to be kidding me! That boy made you cry!"

Hermione ignored her boyfriend's words and went to one of the bookshelves, immediately picking up books that described how wizards' swords are made. She didn't need to look at him to know that Nico was completely pissed with Arianna for even liking Harry.

"And so what if Arianna like Harry!" Hermione hissed as she put her hands on her hips. "It isn't like he is going to hurt her and besides he is dating someone else so you won't have to worry about her dating him."

"Still, she likes him!" Nico complained. "She can't like him not after what he did to you!"

"And I shouldn't even like you for what you did to Octavian last year and yet I still like you!" Hermione said dryly. Nico blushed at her words and immediately shook his head at her.

"But still! I mean is it even wise for her to like him after all he has a huge target on his head." Nico said dryly as he took hold one of the books that Hermione brought. He immediately started to scan the first couple of pages in the book before deciding that the book was helpful. Thank goodness that Arianna cast a spell on him that allowed him to read English without trouble.

"Knowing Arianna, she will deny that she has any feelings towards him because of the fact that he hurt me." Hermione said. "And secondly, Arianna knows that Harry is dating someone else, she will not like the idea of being the other woman!"

Nico nodded his head at her and gave her a grin that Hermione all knew too well as she had seen that grin in the closet. She slapped her forehead and wondered why does her boyfriend always act this way? Through she got to admit the idea of snogging in the library would be nice even if it was wrong to do it.

"No!"

"Why not?"

Hermione opened her mouth to tell him several reasons why not but the sneaky son of Hades took it as his opportunity to kiss her. She relaxed into the kiss before breaking it off.

"Nico, we can't!' Hermione said as Nico gave her a pout. "We got work to do and I for one want to finish that work!"

The black-haired boy sighed at her determined look before he continued to read the book in his hands. It wasn't his fault that the brunette looked really hot while studying and it certainly wasn't his fault that he wanted to show everyone that she was taken but they really had to get some work done.

He looked out at the window and wondered if maybe it would be possible for him to convince Hermione to skip research and go find somewhere to snog. Most likely that won't happen but still he could dream.

* * *

The redhead girl didn't know how she found herself talking to Harry, she had every intention of going to find Hermione and Nico but the boy-who-lived had started to ask her questions about her relationship with Hermione that she couldn't stop herself from answering.

"So you have known Hermione since you were six." Harry stated as they ate their lunch. The redhead girl nodded her head at him, which caused him to frown. "So you know her better than anyone in this whole school."

"Yes, I am also able to make her do things you won't think she will be able to do." Arianna admitted. "I once got her to do a prank on her cousin and to this day nobody believed that we did it."

"I can't see Hermione doing a prank!" Harry admitted.

Arianna opened her mouth to inform him that Hermione do pranks but it rarely happened but the two identical boys walking towards them interrupted her. Both of them had flaming-red hair and abundant freckles as well as being tall and she realized that you couldn't tell the two of them apart.

"What is this about our favorite bookworm doing pranks?" One of the twins asked Harry. They glanced at her and she immediately knew that those two were fellow troublemakers as well.

"Because it can't be true that Hermione Granger-"

"Would do something like that."

"Oh it is true alright." Arianna said, smiling at them. "But she only did it to her cousin Octavian but only because he was a grit."

"And who might you be-" One of the twins asked.

"Beautiful." The other twin asked, giving her a flirty grin.

Arianna grinned at them and answered, "I don't tell my names to boys I don't know."

"My name is Fred-" One twin said.

"And my name is George." The other twin said.

Arianna nodded her head at them and gave them a mischievous grin before answering, "Nice to meet you Fred and George but if you excuse me I need to go find Herms."

They gave her a surprise look while Harry frowned at the nickname that Arianna gave for Hermione before shrugging his shoulders. The three boys watched as Arianna walked out of the Great Hall, her lips curled into a smile and her hair swaying in the wind.

"She is going to be hot in a few years time!" Fred commented as he watched the redhead girl leave the Great Hall. George nodded his head in agreement while Harry simply was in a dazed as he watched the redhead girl left.

Arianna was a mystery that much Harry was certain and he hoped that he would be able to solve this mystery because that girl just had so many secrets that was ready to be known. It also doesn't help that she was extremely attractive. But he must not get himself distracted by her and he can't hurt Ginny even through he found the redhead girl that left extremely attractive.

He certainly didn't want Ron or the other Weasley males angry but he couldn't deny that he was attracted to Arianna. Sighing, Harry decided that he had to apologize to Hermione soon because he needed a girl's opinion about this.

* * *

**Author note: Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the Ocs that will appear in this fanfic. **

**Author Note: I am sorry that I didn't update but I haven't got any inspiration of this chapter so I am sorry if this is a bit short. I also want to thank everyone that had reviewed the last chapter and had added this as their favourite story and follows. I also hope that you enjoy this chapter. I should also inform you that there are some parts that I have copied directly from the fourth book so I don't own some parts of the writing.**

**Pairing: Hermione/Nico, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Oc, mentions of Oc/Oc, Hermione/oc.**

**Warning:**

* * *

It had been one week since Hermione and her friends arrived to Hogwarts and the week had been eventful if she dare say so herself. Arianna had been asked out by a couple of guys but had rejected them all, through she wondered why. Nico had been harassed by a couple of girls in the first few days but the boy had managed to get the girls to be so scared of him that they didn't dare ask him out.

Now, she and Arianna walked in to the entrance hall and found themselves unable to proceed thanks to the large crowd of students congregated there, all of them milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Arianna asked as she tiptoed to see over the heads of the students but couldn't, thanks to her petite height.

"How in Pluto am I supposed to know?" Hermione asked dryly. The redhead girl scowled at her but didn't comment instead choosing to find a way to look over the students in front of them.

"Apparently, there is a Triwizard Tournament coming up and the delegations from Beauxbatons and Drumstrang will be arriving on Friday the 30th of October." A familiar voice spoke.

Hermione and Arianna twirled around and were startled to see Nico standing beside them. He looked very worn-down but the small weary smile told them that he was feeling very tired just like them.

"But that is a week away!" Hermione cried in distress.

"Not only it is a week away but lessons will end half an hour early!" Nico said, grinning at them. "That means we have more time to do research on that day but unfortunately dinner will start at six o'clock."

"Well that is nice and everything but it also means we won't be able to have Potions!" Arianna said sadly. "I was hoping to see if my antidote would work!"

The brunette witch stifled her laughter at her friend's words. Arianna was the only one beside her that liked Potions to the surprise of everyone in their house but it was understandable. The redhead best subjects were Potions and Transfiguration.

"I am sure that he will make us do it in our next lesson." Hermione said, patting her friend's back sympathy. The redhead girl sulked which caused Hermione and Nico to chuckle at her.

"Well if it isn't sl*t Blake and the crybaby Granger."

Arianna turned to look at the person that dared call her such names. She sneered when she saw it was Ginny that said those words and she glanced at Hermione, who had a cool look on her face, and then to Nico who kept his cool. She knew that the two of them wanted to punch the young girl but didn't because of the trouble they will be in.

Everyone else in the hall became quiet; all of them were ready to see the catfight between the two redheads. Each of them held their breaths as they waited to hear Arianna's comment.

"Did you say something sweetheart? Because I am sure that I didn't hear you." Arianna said dryly as she looked at her nails with disinterest. "The last time I check, I wasn't the other woman in the relationship of someone's."

Everyone gasped at her words all but Harry, who winced at the reminder of what he had done. He glanced at Ron and wasn't surprised to see the furious expression on his face but he was taken back by the loathing in his eyes when he looked at Arianna.

"I have you know that he came to me!" Ginny said in a high pitch voice.

The redhead girl smiled sweetly at her words and said, "Did he really? He certainly doesn't seem like your type but then again you don't really have a type."

"Why you little bitch!"

"I am merely stating a fact." Arianna said stiffly as she hesitantly touched her wand. "Any self-respecting girl will not be the other woman in a relationship but then again you don't respect yourself."

"At least I don't associate myself with Slytherins like you two." Ginny said, sneering at them. "Gryffindor shouldn't be associating with Slytherin and you of all people know that Granger. You know how Slytherins can be."

"I do," Hermione said coolly. "But I also know that not all Slytherins are bad, Nico is certainly not bad. A little bit too manipulative at times but only when he is protecting someone that he cares about, isn't that right Di Angelo?"

Everyone turned their attention to the black-haired boy. Harry didn't know much about the boy but he knew that Hermione was extremely close to the boy as she and Arianna was often seen talking to the boy. He heard rumors that Hermione and the boy might be dating but he wasn't too sure about that one.

"Name me one time that I manipulate you." Nico said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Never but you did do it to Percy didn't you?" Hermione asked. "I remember hearing that from your sister, Hazel and let me not remind you about that little detail withheld from her."

Everyone was surprised to hear the chuckle from the black-haired boy, not once since they arrived to the school did they hear him chuckle. The black-haired boy had a small smile adorning his face and Harry swore that half the girls were sighing at it.

"Percy wouldn't have agreed to do it if I told him the full parameters." Nico said dryly. "And as for my sister well, it was for her safety as well as mine. You know how Octavian reacted when he learned about that detail."

"Threw a fit." Hermione answered, grimacing at him. "Took me a while to talk some sense into him but even I will admit that he is irritating. You are damn lucky that he hadn't tried…"

"I had you, Arianna, Jason, Percy and the others backing me up." Nico said, nodding his head at them. "And besides if he had done what he wanted then hell would have broke loose."

Now everyone was curious to know what the two of them was talking about. Harry glanced at Arianna, who had nodded her head in agreement with Hermione and he wondered for the second time since he met the two Americans, how they met Hermione.

"What are the two of you talking about?" Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

"Nothing that concerns you." Nico said calmly. "But if you are curious to know then I will advise you to go all the way to Rome to find out but then again you don't have the money or means to travel there."

Everyone in the hall looked at the boy in shocked for daring to mention about the Weasley's poorness. They were even more shocked when Hermione shook her head at him before bopping her fist onto the boy's head. They gawked at this scene.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for!"

"For saying such awful thing to them." Hermione said firmly.

"Not like she didn't deserve it," Nico commented. "She called you and Arianna such bad names."

"Yes, yes she called me and Arianna such awful names but let us face it, she wants attention." Hermione said, looking at Ginny with distaste. "I don't practically care about her threats, they are after all _brutum fulmen._"

Harry didn't know what the word meant but he can guess from the smirking faces of the Slytherins that it was an insult. Through he wonders what that words meant, in second thoughts he didn't want to know. But it was curious to know how Hermione knew how to speak very fluent Latin.

"Ron, did you know what Hermione just called Ginny?"

Ron shook his head at him and gritted his teeth at the sight right in front of them.

"Who does she think she is? How dare she insulted Ginny, whatever language she just said."

"You truly are an idiot," Nico said, crossing his arms at them. "She spoke in Latin, a language the spells we utter in."

The redhead flushed in embarrassment and anger to Nico's amusement. The warning look from his girlfriend that pushing him would spell trouble for him and as tempting it was to get revenge on the guy for hurting Hermione; he wouldn't want to have Hermione's wrath on him.

Speaking about Hermione, he wonders how he was going to get them to go on a proper date. The two of them had talked, kissed and even made out but they haven't been on a proper date as of yet. He sighed and wondered how can one girl make him feel so nervous. Asking her to be his girlfriend had been nerve wrecking and the same went for confessing his feelings but the date seemed to be most terrifying experience.

"At least I am brave unlike you filthy Slytherin." The redhead said, sneering at him.

Hermione clenched her hands into a fist and bit her lips as she tried to control herself from hitting the boy for that insult.

"Nico may be a Slytherin but at least he won't abandon his friends when he gets jealous." Hermione hissed. "And he is far more braver than you could ever hope to be Weasley."

The black-haired boy blinked before grinning at the girl. He hadn't heard her say such a compliment to him and hearing it from her had made him feel like the luckiest man in the world. The blush on her pretty face might have made it even more worth it.

"A Slytherin getting along with a Gryffindor, I never had heard such a thing." One of the kids whispered.

"I heard that the two of them are quite cozy with each other."

"Well, I heard-"

Arianna chuckled as the conversations continue about Hermione and Nico. Her eyes twinkle in mischief as she thought of more ways to spread those rumors. Maybe, she should take a picture of the two making out. Tilting her head, she thought of the two lovebirds reaction and dismiss the idea. They would definitely kill her for doing such a thing and she would like to live.

"Never thought I would see the day-"

"When Hermione Granger is getting friendly with a-"

"Slytherin."

The redhead girl twirled around and smiled at the sight of the two wizards in front of her. She got along with them just fine and the two of them were quite flirty with her but she didn't feel anything for them through it didn't mean that she couldn't have her fun.

"Then you have to get used to Hermione being quite friendly with Nico, then." Arianna drawled.

"Why?" Fred asked.

Arianna grinned at them and answered, "Why? Can't you feel the tension between the two of them? Even at home, there were bets on those two."

"Bets?"

"Yeah, I mean it was quite obvious there was something there between them but we weren't sure if it was hate or love." Arianna admitted. "Her cousin was quite furious when someone even suggested that the two of them had feelings for each other."

"Interesting." Fred and George said in unison. "Why was he quite angry at the suggestion that the two of them had feelings for each other?"

"Let us just say, he doesn't like the idea of any boy being close to Hermione especially Nico."

"Why especially him?"

Arianna tapped her finger on her chin and answered, "It is because of his father and the fact that he believes that…well I can't tell you the other part."

"Why not?" George asked.

"Hermione will kill me." Arianna answered. "And I don't want to die!"

The boys nodded in understanding. Hermione had to be one of the scariest girls that they met; she was second in their list as someone not to piss. The first being their own mother. The three of them looked at the brunette witch, who was in a heated argument with the Slytherin.

"What in Pluto were you thinking when you were talking to Ron? Do you have any idea how much trouble you would have been if he…."

"You know as well as I do that I can dodge attacks really well and he didn't."

"He could have seriously hurt you!"

Nico sighed at his girlfriend's worry face and rubbed his forehead. Hermione worried too much about their safety and he was grateful but at times it was annoying.

"You shouldn't worry about me, Hermione." Nico said, tilting her head for her to look him in the eyes. "You know I have been through much worse, Hermione."

The brunette witch bit her lips, feeling her face turned scarlet red at the boy's eyes staring intently at her own. She could feel her heartbeat turning erratic as she kept staring intently at the boy's eyes. Hermione's breath hitched as Nico's face came closer to her own face.

Arianna bit her lips, trying to stop herself from laughing at the gawking faces of Fred and George, who seemed to be in shock at the sight of Nico and Hermione's flirting. She couldn't help but found it funny that even the twins seemed to be shocked about this.

"W-When did this start-"

"Happening?" George said, finishing his brother's question.

The redhead grinned at her fellow redheads and answered with a smirk. "Long enough. Hermione had liked Nico since she was thirteen but never did anything for some strange reason."

"I didn't like Nico since I was thirteen!" Hermione denied while Nico grinned wildly at her. The three teens didn't notice that Fred and George had left the three of them to talk.

"Right and I dreamt of being married to some filthy rich guy at the age of ten." Arianna said sarcastically, grinning at her best friend.

Hermione pursed her lips while Nico shook his head at the eccentric redhead girl. The two teens glanced at each other before blushing, remembering what had just happened between them.

Arianna arched her eyebrows at them and sighed. "I guess I should leave the two of you alone." The redhead said, grinning at them. "Just make sure that you guys don't do anything inappropriate again."

Hermione and Nico flushed deep red at her words and opened their mouth to deny it but the knowing look on her face made them closed it. They knew that the redhead would argue at what they are going to say.

"I mean you don't want to ruin the little kids' eyes." Arianna continued, shrugging her shoulders at them. "Man, I know my eyes are now spoiled by the amount of snogging that the two of you have been doing."

"We haven't been snogging!" Nico and Hermione said in unison.

Arianna waved her hand at their denial as she walked towards the common room. Hermione and Nico looked at each other and frowned, realizing just how many times the redhead had caught them snogging. Their face flushed red as they realized that Arianna had known about it for a long time.

"We really haven't been snogging that much have we?" Hermione asked Nico, who frowned at her. "I mean we didn't really…it isn't like we meant it to go out of hand-"

Nico shook his head and silenced his girlfriend with a gentle kiss that made the brunette witch smiled. He smiled at her and hugged her, causing her to hug him back. He knew that their relationship wasn't normal at the slightest, to many people it may seem that they were moving fast. Perhaps they were but Nico knew that he had only eyes for only one girl and she was standing right in front of him.

"You know Hermione, you shouldn't care about what Arianna says." Nico said. "She is just teasing and besides…" he paused, grinning at her. "I can't really control myself when I am with you especially after I see that flush face of yours."

Hermione's face turned bright red at his declaration. She seemed to be quite torn being embarrassed or angry with him but in the end decided to be angry with the black-haired boy.

"You should know how to control yourself!" Hermione hissed.

Nico grinned at her and lazily said. "But you look very ravishing when your face is so red. It makes me think things that I know I shouldn't be thinking."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in curiosity and asked. "What type of things are you talking about?"

The black-haired boy grinned and whispered it to her, watching in amusement as the brunette witch turned bright red at what he was telling her. He knew that he shouldn't be telling her these types of things but he often found it amusing to see her reactions. This wasn't any different as Hermione was as red as a tomato by the time he finished informing her about his thoughts.

"You're a pervert, you know that right!" Hermione said to him.

Nico smiled and said. "But I am your pervert."

The brunette witch crossed her arms and huffed, turning her head away so that he couldn't see the small smile that she had. Hermione wanted to yell at the boy for what he had said to her but she was very embarrassed to admit that she was curious about what he was saying.

"I knew it, you have a little bit of perverseness in you!" Nico said, grinning at her.

"I am not a pervert!"

"Don't deny it!"

"I am telling you, Di Angelo that I am not a pervert!" Hermione yelled.

And this was how the rest of the day was like for the two lovebirds. Nico and Hermione were arguing about whether or not the brunette witch was a pervert or not.

* * *

During the following week, Nico, Arianna and Hermione had noticed several changes that were happening in the castle. The grimy portraits had been scrubbed clean, to the amusement of Nico, who had heard the portraits muttering darkly to each other.

The suit of armor to Arianna's disappointment were gleaming, ruining the prank that she had been planning to do, which had involved paint and a couple of paintballs. She knew that she couldn't do the prank because that blasted caretaker was keeping an eye on her to her disappointment.

Hermione had noticed that the teacher were also tense, remembering how Professor McGonagall had informed Neville that he shouldn't show to the Drumstrange's students that he can't do the switching spell. She and Arianna had felt pity for the boy, they truly did.

When Arianna and Hermione went down to breakfast on the thirtieth of October, they had found to their surprise that the hall had been decorated overnight. In Arianna's eyes, the hall looked completely different from yesterday especially the enormous silk banners hung from the wall.

Hermione and Arianna reluctantly took their seats beside Ron and Harry, as almost the whole table was full. The brown-haired girl ignored the two boys while the redhead took a toast of bread, pretending that the boys didn't exist. The two of them were, however in tune to what Fred and George were saying.

"It's a bummer, all right," George said to Fred. "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him a letter after all. Or we will stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."

"If you want the guy to come to you then blackmail him." Arianna informed the two boys as she buttered her bread. "I don't know who you are talking about but I know damn well from experience that blackmail is the best way to get him to talk."

"How would you know?"

"Arianna may not look like it but she had often got herself into trouble with authority." Hermione explained, glaring at her friend.

"Oh come on, I didn't mean for you to get into trouble with Octavian."

"He nearly got my parents to ground me." Hermione grumbled. "Nearly ruined any chance that I had with Leon."

"Does Nico know about you and Leon?"

"Um…"

"You seriously got to tell him about your ex-boyfriend."

Fred and George gagged as they remember the romantic scene that they saw a week ago while Harry looked at Hermione and then to the redhead in confusion. Not understanding about the situation between Hermione and the new boy. Ron just ignored them.

"So, who do you think is going to enter the tournament?"

Arianna rolled her eyes at the change of subject but complied with her best friend's wishes. Honestly, Hermione needed to tell Nico about her ex-boyfriend Leon. She grimaced as she remembered how Hermione and Leon's relationship had been like.

Leon and Hermione's relationship had been the complete opposite of Nico and Hermione's relationship. The two of them hadn't argued and they did look cute together but there had been no spark that much had been obvious. It also didn't help that the boy had been jealous of Nico.

""You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked.

"Thought any more about trying to enter?"

"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling," said George bitterly. "She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" said Ron thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before…"

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," said Fred. "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.

"I am not so sure-" Arianna began.

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," said Hermione, and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised, "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage."

"How the bloody hell do you know that much?"

"Nico and I did some research on the tournament." Hermione explained. "We thought that we would find information about, you-know-what in Hogwarts A History."

"You got to be kidding me, Mione, you seriously thought…"

"Well, we were desperate."

"Sure you were." Arianna said slyly. "I am pretty sure that you and Nico were-"

"Anyways, you guys should really read the book." Hermione said, glaring at the redhead. Harry was truly confused about the relationship between the brunette witch and the black-haired boy.

The two of them stopped talking when they heard the whooshing noise from overhead, announcing the arrival of the post. Hermione and Arianna noticed that Harry looked at once and saw a snowy owl fluttering down on Harry's shoulders.

"She's so cute!" Arianna squealed, immediately going towards Harry's side to pet the owl.

Fred and George looked at Hermione for an explanation but the brunette witch shrugged her shoulders, offering no explanation for her best friend's behavior. She couldn't even tell them that Arianna loved owls with all her heart, can she?

"Hermione! Arianna! I need to talk to you in private!" Nico said, walking towards them with his hands on his pocket.

The two girls looked up and frowned at the sight of the black-haired boy looking quite serious at them. Not once had they seen him look this serious, not even when they were during their research.

"What's wrong?"

Nico looked at Hermione in the eye and answered as fluently as he could in Latin, "_Your cousin have something that he wished to discuss with all three of us. He doesn't look quite happy."_

"_He's never happy with us."_

"_It has to do with the prophecy and Hermione, you won't like it."_ Nico said softly, not looking his girlfriend in the eye.

Instantly, Hermione felt dread and she realized with a heavy heart that their mission was going to get harder.

* * *

**Author note: Please review.**


End file.
